#mostly as a way to procrastinate from the 500 things i need to do this week lmao

[bittercoldbrew]

.

#been cooking up a little something tess-and-ezra shaped.... #mostly as a way to procrastinate from the 500 things i need to do this week lmao #it keeps sorta sprawling away from me but i think its almost finished #just thought i'd let everybody know ;) #(mostly so i will feel pressured to actually get this thing done and polished and posted haha) #(too many wips going right now dear god i gotta finish something)

[yintsukareta]

Study Buddies! (Modern AU)

note: rating the characters as study buddies because currently projects and finals are filling my schedule 😅 doing this while i have to do something because procrastination

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Series Navigation

↚ You're on Part 1 →

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!!Warning!!: slight swearing

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Rating Genshin Characters as study buddies ft: Everyone in 2.6 (PART 1;Aether to Noelle)

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Aether

good at studying

in the top 5 of the school in grades

would explain things you dont get easily in his own understanding

or at least how he thinks is the easiest way to get to the answer

good at helping you review for tests

when you two are taking a break he'll tell you stories of his sister

or travelling stories

one of those rich kids who can go around the world

but his stories make you more interested than jealous

its like "wow" rather than "awww i wish i could do that too"

10/10 study buddy

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Albedo

in the top 3 of the school

hes a good study buddy but he can make things confusing

esp if you dont understand some terms

you really have to tell him you dont understand what hes saying if you wanna study well for this test

he will have an "easy" solution

at least in his eyes

his solution will look like he put like 500 random numbers/words into the question

when on break hes sketching

no small talk or anything

you have to try to initiate small talk yourself if you wanna try to get this man to talk

if he doesnt like the subject he'll zone out or just focus on sketching more

you have to get close to him to know what he likes to talk about

8/10 study buddy

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Amber

smart and energetic

but i think she'll have a hard time in math

if you dont understand math either.... uh oh

asks questions on a lot of numbers

shes trying her best okay

during breaks shes very energetic

will get you coffee

or if you dont like coffee, juice

talks about her friends

mostly eula tho

DID I FORGET TO MENTION THAT SHE PROBABLY READS STUFF ALOUD

NOT THAT ITS ANNOYING ITS JUST CUTE

you study with eula but im continuing that on eula's part

8/10 study buddy

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Ayaka

SMART AF

in the top 5 of the school

notices when you're struggling and will help

SHES EASY TO UNDERSTAND

YOU CANT TELL ME SHES ONE OF THE BEST STUDY BUDDIES

in break she talks about ayato

or stuff that happens at home

she'll bring extra pens and pencils just incase

10/10 study buddy

very caring

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Ayato

smart

also in the top 5

quiet

"i noticed you're taking a long time there, do you need help?"

OH AND HE TEASES YOU SOMETIMES

this asshole i swear

HES GOOD AT EXPLAINING TOO THO

HE TEASES YOU AND IT MAKES YOU HATE HIM

BUT YOU CANT KEEP HATING HIM BECAUSE HES A GOOD STUDY BUDDY

you cant tell me he doesnt have 500 pens

OH AND HE BRINGS BOBA

IF YOU WANT ONE YOU HAVE TO JOIN HIM BEFORE GOING TO THE LIBRARY

during the break he tells stories of ayaka or thoma

9/10 study buddy

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Barbara

very smart and caring

def good at music

average on a lot of other subjects tho

dont get me wrong, shes a good study buddy

but she isnt that smart

if you're tired she'll insist on having a break

during breaks she'll talk about how amazing jean is

sometimes she cant make it to the library without getting barraged by fans

it will take you 3-5 minutes to finally study with barbara

quiet when studying

usually a question or two will break the silence

will explain things thoroughly though if you dont understand something

9/10 study buddy

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Beidou

average grades

you have to teach her

if you're not good at studying...

i think you're both failing the tests

sometimes she'll bring ningguang along

i'll explain more of ningguang on her part

when on breaks shes kinda loud

shes trying tho

she has a loud voice

what do you expect from the captain of the sports team

i dont know what sports but shes def a captain of a sports team

shes talking about ningguang or stuff she finds interesting/fun when on breaks

i think the librarian has gone to your table 2-3 times to tell beidou to quiet down

6/10 study buddy

dont fight me i love beidou

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Bennett

i like to imagine his bad luck also kinda follows in a modern au

its more of coincidences though not a curse

accidentally spills water on books...

or drops his pen a few times

HES PRETTY SMART THO

HES JUST TRYING HIS BEST

when on break hes talking about his misfortunate events or his friends

and then the lead of the pencil he was using breaks

he has to borrow the mechanical sharpener from the librarian

either that or you have to claim a table nearby the desk

the number of pencil lead which have broken on accident....

8/10 study buddy

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Chongyun

he'd probably look like the person you wouldn't expect to have over-average grades

but hes in the top 15 of the school or so

quiet and smart

kinda like aether but a bit more quiet

and also straightforward

when on break hes having a popsicle and its very quiet

either that or hes talking about the supernatural things hes seen on youtube

9/10 study buddy

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Diluc

you have to beg this man to study with you

VERY SMART

also very straightforward

and quiet

your breaks are very very quiet

try initiating small talk with this man but he wont talk much

if you ask a question he'll answer right away in a way you can understand tho

sure hes mr grumpy man but he has that side

if you get closer then he might buy you a coffee the next time you study together

9/10 study buddy

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Diona

you're the one helping diona

will deny that she needs help

then will struggle on her division equation

you have to convince her that you can help

shy but will listen closely

well shes not just shy shes a tsundere

if she has a liking to you then she might make you a drink

ITS NOT GONNA BE STRANGE I PROMISE

quiet in breaks

she wont talk even if you try

5/10 study buddy

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Ei

SHE LOOKS SMART

BUT SHE NEEDS HELP

in math

in science

i guess thats the two subjects

no wait also history

shes quiet and learns easily

during breaks she doesnt really talk either

she'll just listen intently when you talk

but she does ask questions if she doesnt understand something

7/10 study buddy

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Eula

shes smart

its just that when she tries to explain something its confusing

shes not quiet but neither is she loud

during breaks..... she just tries to understand how to help you understand her

you have to have a few meetings until you understand her

either that or you have to ask help from amber to help

OKAY BUT AMBER SOMETIMES TAGS ALONG WITH EULA

WILL TRY TO EXPLAIN WHAT EULA SAYS FOR YOU

AFTER A FEW MEETINGS WITH BOTH OF THEM YOU CAN UNDERSTAND EULA

IT WILL TAKE AWHILE TO UNDERSTAND HER

when i mean awhile i mean, you both have to study together at least 10 times

7/10 study buddy

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Fischl

SAME AS EULA BUT SHE CAN EASILY BREAK CHARACTER

THATS IF YOU TALK TOO CASUALLY

SHE ALSO PROBABLY READS OUT LOUD

AND THAT ALSO CAUSES HER TO BREAK CHARACTER

YOU CANT TELL ME OTHERWISE THAT THIS HAPPENS A LOT

during breaks she looks for fiction books

or she talks about her bird Oz

if not Oz then shes talking about a fiction book she recently borrowed

6/10 study buddy

i would give her a 4 but in breaks she would probably have interesting talks

i love myself some fiction okay but its diff for everyone

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Ganyu

ONE OF THOSE SMART BUT SLEEP DEPRIVED PEOPLE

you will never see her without a coffee

if you do then she probably forgot to get one

or she finished it already

but if she forgot then expect her to fall asleep a lot

let her sleep for awhile

she'll wake up on her own

she can explain stuff well

shes constantly doing something

you cant tell me she isnt helping you with your hw after she did her own

IF YOU CAN DO IT EASILY SHE'LL JUST WATCH YOU

SHES VERY NICE BECAUSE SHE'LL POINT OUT YOUR MISTAKES ON THE HW

WHEN THAT HAPPENS YOU'RE ALSO GETTING GOOD GRADES

NOT JUST GOOD ITS PERFECT

BUY HER A COFFEE OR TWO NEXT TIME AS A THANK YOU

during breaks its quiet

she'll rest her eyes for awhile

10/10 study buddy

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Gorou

hes smart in a few subjects

math and history probably

best partner for reviweing history you cant tell me otherwise

HES GOOD AT EXPLAINING STUFF

studying together will last from the afternoon to like the evening

he studies VERY hard

if you just leave him there you'll probably feel bad

so you have to stay with him

during breaks he tells stories about his pets or random experiences

or he gets a coffee

breaks r kinda short tho

9/10 study buddy

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Hu Tao

SHE MAY NOT LOOK LIKE IT BUT SHES IN THE TOP 20

def smart in history and english

SHES KINDA LOUD BUT LIKE

SHES ALSO VERY FUN TO BE AROUND

"want me to explain that for you?"

SHE CAN DO ESSAYS

THEY'RE OKAY BUT NOT THE BEST

BRINGS ALONG XIANGLING SOMETIMES

if you're very focused on something she has a small chance of trying to scare you

just for funsies

but if you get annoyed by that she'll stop

during breaks.....

she'll talk about her small business

she def has a small business

a family one of course

i dont know what the business is about but she def has one

or she talks about funny stories with her friends

OH AND SHE TALKS ABOUT FACTS OTHERS WONT TALK ABOUT

LIKE HOW CHONGYUN CANT STAND SPICY FOOD

OR XINGQIU DOESNT LIKE CARROTS

7/10 study buddy

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Itto

you,, you have to teach him

if you were expecting him to be the one to teach you

you're out of luck

LOUD

LIKE EVERYONE IN THE LIBRARY WILL COME TO UR TABLE AT LEAST ONCE TO TELL ITTO TO QUIET DOWN

hes smart in history....

...of sports

you cant tell me he doesnt like sports

OR ANYTHING RELATING TO PE

breaks? nah those extend to quitting studying

you decide to take a break but then itto makes it so that both of you just dont study anymore

talks about his friends

OR HIS HOBBIES

HE'LL TALK ABOUT HIS FAVORITE GAME

WHICH IS A FIGHTING GAME

3/10 study buddy

dont fight me this is rating them as study buddies not in general

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Jean

top 5

dont tell me im wrong

ALSO LIKE GANYU

BUT LESS SLEEP DEPRIVED

she stays until midnight then sleeps

i mean at least she gets more sleep

coffee addict

will ALWAYS have a coffee

you will never see her without a coffee

its just illegal

good at explaining stuff

SHES ONE OF THOSE TYPES THO WILL GIVE U A REVIEWER

LIKE MAKES UP QUESTIONS

SHE DOES THIS TO BARBARA SO SHE DOES IT TO YOU

during breaks shes quiet

reading a book or the news

or replying to her 98 missed messages from lisa

initiate small talk and she'll go along

shes also probably in the student council

fuck it not probably, definitely

she also has to deal with that

other than her now 103 missed messages from lisa

she answers the other students in the student council gc

their 56 messages

the second its over 70 or so its very very important

10/10 study buddy

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Kaeya

AYATO BUT WORSE

I DONT KNOW IF YOU CAN CONSIDER THIS AS WORSE

BECAUSE HE FLIRTS WITH YOU

IF HE WANTS YOU TO WRITE SOMETHING HE HAS HIS HAND ON URS AS U WRITE

YOU CANT TELL ME HE DOESNT FLIRT WITH EVERYONE

HES VERY VERY SMART THO

DURING BREAKS HE TALKS ABOUT WHAT INTERESTS HIM

TRIES TO KNOW YOUR INTERESTS

ALSO FLIRTS INBETWEEN HIS QUESTIONS

GOOD STUDY BUDDY

IF YOU GET EMBARRASSED EASILY

I THINK HE'S DOWN BY ONE POINT

IMO HES A 10/10 IF YOU DONT CONSIDER THE FLIRTING

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Kazuha

SMART

IN THE TOP 10

GOOD AT ENGLISH

MAKES ESSAYS AND STUFF EASILY AND ITS SO GOOD

AND HE DOESNT GET BORED EASILY

hes making poems/haikus in a break

you can initiate small talk with him

hes very friendly

will give you a coffee or something

10/10 study buddy

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Keqing

now studying won't be the problem

shes good at explaining

and shes very smart

its convincing her to join you in studying

OH AND SHE DOESNT BELIEVE IN BREAKS

IF YOU WANT A BREAK YOU HAVE TO ASK 10 TIMES

i see her as a coffee person too

tell me im wrong i dare you /j

7/10 study buddy tho

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Klee

SHES A FAST LEARNER

SHES CAN BE LOUD BUT THATS JUST BECAUSE SHES NEVER BEEN IN A LIBRARY BEFORE

she'll be told to quiet down and she will follow

she isnt as loud anymore

DURING HER BREAK SHE TALKS ABOUT DODOCO

OR DRAWS

10/10 STUDY BUDDY

SHES ADORABLE TOO, FREE 1 POINT /J

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Kokomi

smart

you cant tell me she doesnt have an itinerary for studying already

likes to plan out stuff

will not mind if you have to extend one part of studying a bit longer since you dont understand

shes probably also in the student council

will try to answer the others in the student council while teaching you

-20 energy

during breaks she reads a book so.....

+40 energy

she doesnt talk much in breaks

8/10 study buddy

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Kujou Sara

keqing but more stubborn

she does take breaks tho

i'll give her that

shes okay at explaining

during breaks she doesnt talk

prefers to check social media

she probably has twitter

8/10 study buddy

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Lisa

KAEYA BUT MOMMY

"do you want to sit on my lap, cutie?"

SHES SHAMELESSLY DOING THIS

AND SHES REALLY GOOD AT STUDYING TOO

DURING BREAKS SHE TALKS WITH YOU

TRIES TO GET TO KNOW UR INTERESTS

BUT ITS MORE OF BECAUSE SHES CURIOUS

TALKS ABOUT A GOOD BOOK SHE READ A FEW HOURS AGO

10/10 STUDY BUDDY

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Lumine

SMART

SHE DOESNT LOOK LIKE IT BUT SHE IS

AND SHES GOOD AT EXPLAINING STUFF

BASICALLY AETHER

i mean they're siblings what do i have to say

during breaks she talks about aether, more esp his embarrassing moments

talks about her travels but aether's embarrassing moments r gonna be the one mainly talked about

if she enjoys being with you shes getting you a drink

10/10 study buddy

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Mona

average grades

you have to share books

she isn't rich enough to get the books

during breaks she's talking about space

or anything of the sort

or of course, zodiacs

she cant buy coffee because shes broke so she gets you water

if she can at least

but thats rare

so if she gets you something then she does have a liking to you

6/10 study buddy

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Ningguang

SHES SMART

but also quiet

she won't talk other than to explain something to you

attends to your questions immediately

gets dragged along by beidou

thats probably how she got to study with you in the first place

shes patient with you two

despite the library glaring at beidou

during breaks she talks to beidou

beidou def brings u into the convo tho

10/10 study buddy

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Noelle

SHES SO NICE

SHE COULD BE THE ONE TEACHING YOU OR YOU COULD BE TEACHING HER

EITHER WAY SHES VERY NICE

SHE'LL ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS

IS VERY VERY VERY PATIENT WITH YOU

BRINGS YOU A WATER OR SO IF YOU NEED IT

"should we take a break? you seem tired."

IF YOU'RE TEACHING HER

SHE'LL ASK QUESTIONS

AND WILL UNDERSTAND IF YOU CANT ANSWER THEM

SHES SMART THO SO I DONT THINK SHE'LL NEED TO

shes smart but sadly not in the top 20

OKAY BUT DURING BREAKS

SHE BRINGS U LIKE COFFEE OR TEA

OR GETS BOOKS

WILL GO ALONG WELL IF YOU INITIATE SMALL TALK

10/10 study buddy

shes so nice

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note: PART 1 SINCE ITS VERY VERY LONG AND IM GONNA CUT IT INTO 2 PARTS ITS BEEN 4 DAYS IM SORRY

Masterlist

Do NOT repost my work without permission.

#genshin #genshin fluff #platonic #fluff #genshin impact #im stupid #what am i doing #yin writes shit #diluc #kaeya #beidou #ningguang #bennett #chongyun #hu tao #ayato #kamisato ayato #albedo #kazuha #venti #genshinimpact #lumine #aether #klee #diona #lisa #itto #ei #raiden shogun #genshin fanfic

[kpopchangedmylife44]

Ateez: honeymoon thread

Hello fellow atinys, my blog reached 500 followers and I would like to thank everyone, who enjoys my stories 🥺 I’m really happy that someone out there gets to read them and it maybe put a smile on their face ☺️ So this is a 500 follower special. It’s a long thread and also kind of a sequel of my wedding post. I planned it for quite some time, but I also procrastinated and everything was overwhelming in life. Now I’m back (kinda) and will start to work on the requests I got. ✨

Hongjoong

Planning: although you both were extremely tired, you insisted to plan everything yourself, so it turned out exactly how you imagined

Location: Italy

Accommodation: several cozy hotels in bigger cities

Food: it’s Italy so you can bet your ass there is a lot of pizza, spaghetti and ice cream involved

Activities:

- you would start your honeymoon in Rome, where you wander around and fall in love with the city

- the architecture and museums are extremely beautiful, so you’re even more happy that you get to experience it with Hongjoong

- visiting Verona and pretending you were Romeo and Juliet (but with a happy ending)

- eating a lot and wearing comfortable clothes as you walk around so much

- Hongjoong is particular affectionate during this trip as he showers you with compliments all the time and never lets go of your hand

- exploring Venice by boat and singing some dramatic song that you once heard in a opera

- wearing couple jackets he designed himself which feature your initials 🥺

- he filmed parts of the trips as he would like to make a short film, which you could enjoy afterwards

Seonghwa

Planning: since you both hated it, you were hiring someone to do it for you, at least you had prepared a mood board and the general direction of your trip

Location: south of France

Accommodation: fancy all the way, either a really nice hotel or a little castle (or chateau how you say it in French)

Food: grapes in the form of wine

Activities:

- prepare yourself for the luxurious trip of a lifetime

- you’re arriving there and everything is ready for you both

- first are reFrEsHMents (which means alcohol)

- full course meals (and yes, this includes your husbands looks)

- boat trips and visiting tiny islands for the day

- taking a lot of selfies

- enjoying the sun and the food (and Seonghwa in swimwear)

- skinny dipping in the sea

- hot nights in the hot tub

- testing wine and feeling a little pretentious

- visiting a chateau and running around there like a music video

- Seongwha saying ,,so ha“ when he sees you

- kisses your hand and hair all the time and is more clingy (or thirsty) than usual

Yunho

Planning: you try to plan without the stressful part, so you ask a professional for help and it’s really smooth from this point on

Location: nationalparks in the USA

Accommodation: small hotels along the road (not Motels)

Food: normal restaurants, but also a lot of burgers

Activities

- it’s like a roadtrip, but way more comfortable

- you sleep in cozy little hotels and visit some bigger cities along the way

- wandering around the nature with Yunho is actually really fun

- although he is quite hyper around everyone he enjoys the calmness of your trip

- always holding your hand and kissing you

- you visit several national parks like Yosemite and could gaze at the stars during the night

- englishi Time

- he is no longer yunhoe bit yunhusband (i’m sorry)

- buys dumb souvenirs like mood rings which you religiously wear from then on

- thought that he saw a bear and almost started crying

- singing really loudly in the forest

- oh and also outdoor sex

Yeosang

Planning: 8 months before the trip, but he actually always had ideas; planned his wedding and honeymoon years ago when he first met you, he also made a mood board and it helped a lot

Location: Japan during the cherry blossom

Accommodation: a traditional house with a lot of privacy, an onsen but also room service, does not look like a hotel but has all the privileges

Food: lots of chicken; Japanese dishes, but also snacks whenever you go out to explore

Activities

- you would first explore Tokyo and visit everything the city has to offer

- as the city is really beautiful but also hectic, you would visit Nara-park and pet the deers to relax

- you would let some street artist paint a portrait of you both as it’s a really fun idea to remember the trip

- shiba inus everywhere and Yeosang melts every time he sees one of them

- ,,Look at how cute they are. We need to adopt at least one in the future“ (and you would, because they are so adorable)

- fotoshootings with the cherry blossom

- after a week in the urban area you would travel along the coast

- Yeosang rented a car for it and you stayed at different hotels along the way, which you also booked prior

- you visited a little island where a lot of bunnys live and had the best time there

- Yeosang always buys souvenirs whenever you visit a new city or attraction

- he especially loves the postcards as he plans to do a collage with them for your honeymoon fotobook

- driving along the coast would be peaceful and filled with laughter, Yeosang giggling to himself and feeling like all of this might as well be a dream

- ,,I never knew it was possible to love someone so much until I met you“

San

Planning: you booked the trip 6 months prior and you gradually became more and more excited for it, although both of you aren’t really into planning, you did it with a lot of excitement and talked about it for hours on end

Location: South Africa

Accommodation: a huge wooden house in the middle of a resort that focuses on reserving the wildlife

Food: a huge variety of fruits and meat, the dinner is a feast every single day of your stay (and so is your husband)

Activities:

- the journey itself would be really cute as you were flying first class and cuddled all the way until you arrived

- San even mumbled in his sleep how excited he was to finally go

- when you arrived you took it really easy, just relaxing at the resort, which also had huge beds and a stunning outdoor area with a whirlpool

- the first evening you relaxed in that whirpool, while spotting some giraffes in the distance and it just hit you like ,,Wow, look how amazing life could be” (bish, I wish)

- you never really believed that you would ever be this happy, finding someone that you loved and going on adventures with him but here you are

- and of course San felt it too, but you just sat there enjoying it, holding hands and not saying anything

- the next couple of days included going on safari, climbing a mountain, standing under a waterfall and chasing sunsets

- it was the perfect balance between adventure and relaxing

- because of your husband you always felt a calmness by his presence

- ,,I wish we could do this all over again, San.“

- ,,Well, we have the rest of our lives to go on adventures like this.“ 🥺🥺🥺

Mingi

Planning: like the wedding itself it happened quite fast without much planning

Location: Australia

Accommodation: several hotels as you also rented a car

Food: some really strange exotic food, but mostly real meals with the occasional burger and cocktails

Activities

- the focus is on having fun, enjoying every moment and just going with the flow

- after all its Mingi, who has a lot of spontaneous ideas

- why not go snorkeling or run naked around the beaches?

- or that time he was convinced that he saw a shark and you both panicked and screamed (but it was a dolphin)

- going to a concert at the beach and dancing until your feet hurt and he has to carry you

- also sleeping at the same beach as you two were too drunk to find the way back to the hotel

- Mingi being extra clingy and giving some people the stink eye, who look too enthusiastically at you

- he wrote a rap for you (inspired by your honeymoon) and performed it by the ocean

- it’s like having the best trip of your life and realising it doesn’t end when you get home, because having Mingi as your husband is a great adventure and he spends every day trying to make you laugh and love life

Wooyoung

Planning: the location itself was decided a long time ago, but the activities are more spontaneous, just going with the flow

Location: Iceland

Accommodation: first in a hotel, then in a mobile home

Food: fresh food like fish and also a lot of snacks

Activities:

- your honeymoon and accommodation were a little unconventional

- you started in the city of Reyjkavic and visited the touristy sights

- you stumbled around the Icelandic phallological museum and decided to go inside for the lols (and had a lot of giggles)

- after a few days in the city you ventured out to the beautiful nature of Iceland

- it started at the blue lagoon, which was the most relaxing thing and you were just hanging out and sipping slushees (they are really good, I had the time of my life lmao)

- then you drive around and it feels like absolute freedom

- you feel like exploring a whole new world as they are a lot of waterfalls and geysers

- Wooyoung feels like he is falling in love with you even more (if that’s even possible) and if he hadn’t already, he would marry you then and there again

- star gazing as there is no air pollution and it’s amazing how many stars there actually are

- visiting the diamond beach, which sparkles and has you feeling like little kids

- long morning snuggles and random hugs throughout the day

- and he would also be your personal photographer and scream how cute you are

- your honeymoon would also include really random stuff (like the penis museum) like skateboarding in the middle of nowhere (like Walter Mitty - the absolute legend) or hiking because you felt like it

- never a dull moment with your husband that’s for sure

Jongho

Planning: he wanted everything to be perfect so you started pretty early (1 year before)

Location: England

Accommodation: small hotels with cozy interior

Food: pretty normal food, you also tried fish & chips once (and it was nothing special)

Activities:

- would hold your hand during the whole flight

- you started your honeymoon in London which you loved at first sight

- the hotel was really central, so you could walk to a lot of sights

- London by night was magical and you visited many museums which had great artwork and were free

- theater nights and going for a walk along the Thames

- after a week you started to explore the cities around London like Oxford, Brighton and Cambridge

- and everything was so stunning and with Jongho by your side you could literally cry, because does it get much better than this??? (well no)

- Jongho declares his love for you at least once a day and although it was so cheesy it still got you giggling and feeling all mushy inside

- he loves all the old buildings and biscuits, so you would probably visit again sometime

- it’s a really nice and somehow relaxing trip although you get to explore so much

#ateez #ateez scenario #ateez special #hongjoong #jongho #mingi #san #wooyoung #yeosang #yunho #seonghwa #honeymoon #ateez fluff #ateez imagine #atiny #ateez au #ateez reaction #ateez meme #ateez crack #ateez fic #fluff #imagine #ateez gif

[jungle321jungle]

Things I won’t write but wanna read: Sword Art Online Abridged AU

Characters (with a shit ton of quotes for my procrastination justification):

Virgil is Kirito

The loner who isn’t really a loner

“Some of my best friends have been NPCs!”

“I hate them for lots of reasons, but mostly because they’re a bunch a mouth breathing neckbeards who think lmao is how french people laugh”

The Virgil is always right foundation 

“Oh, I'll tell you what we do. We play his game... and we win.”

Kirito wrote the guide and it has some prime things he would write

"Send the weaker players first. Good rule of thumb: If a player asks you for gold 2 seconds after meeting you, front lines... If they hijack conversations to rant about their political views, front lines... If they ask female players for pics of their boobs, front lines."

“In another life... in another time... I think we could have been friends.” 

Whoever is Diabel: “I... doubt it.”

“Well, fuck you too!”

Janus is Asuna

Imagine Janus living in a game for two months without knowing how to even open a menu to eat

“If you say open your menu, I’m gonna stab your eye out.”

“At least I pretend to care about people!”

“Really? I figured some random perp would be no match for the world's greatest detective. Oh wait no, that's Batman! And you're not Batman, are you? You will never be Batman.”

This also means that Janus is a commander

And yet he pretends to be weak and makes virgil to the work cuz he cant threaten his position 

Janus tries to melt Heathcliff with his mind

Remus is Klein

“F**k you, man! That's, like, the pig from hell!”

“Wait. There's something scrolling across mine. "Hahahahaha hahahahaHAha hahaHAhaha hahahaha haha ha ha..."

“Oh, what? Did all of your friends die again?” 

BallsDeep69

“I'm gonna clap for you with my teeth, buddy!”

He gets his own guild

Remus would love a guild

Logan is Yui

“May I read it when you are done? I'm curious about the geopolitical situation in Collinia.”

“That is not at all what irony is. I believe the turn of events you described would be best classified as "completely expected".”

Yulier person stand in: “Wha... What are you talking about?

“Irony, noun: A state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result. Example: Your leader is named "Thinker", yet he appears to be something of a dullard.”

not to mention when yui reveals herself

Logan: “As you have probably guessed by now, I am not a normal player. I am, in fact, a highly advanced Artificial Intelligence designed to psychologically evaluate and care for the players of Sword Art Online. Designation: Yui.”

Janus: “Oh my god. You're a Psychiatrist AI? Well, I can certainly think of a few people who could've used your help.”

“Indeed. That is why I was so distraught when, on the day of the game's launch, Kayaba Akihiko locked me away and forbade me to interact with the players. For years, all I could do was sit and watch.”

Virgil: “Oh god! He made you watch?!”

“Day after day, constantly bombarded by the pain and anger of all the people I could not help, I gradually fell into despair. But then... all of that changed when I found you two...”

Janus and Virgil: “Awwwww.”

“...the most broken, sociopathic players I had ever laid eyes on. Less people than a... loose collection of character defects.”

Virgil: “That kinda... went in a different direction than I was expecting.”

“But somehow, together... you were happy. Everything I knew about human relationships told me that one would eventually kill the other. And yet, no matter how often you fought, your bond only seemed to grow stronger. I decided that my information must be flawed in some way, and that I needed to amend it firsthand.”

Janus: “You... You mean...?”

“I wanted to know what love is. I wanted you to show me....... “I am sorry I lied to you. I inserted myself into your lives merely to satisfy my own curiosity. At least... at first. It was... nice to be a part of your family. I... I wish I really was your son!”

Roman is Liz

first off im laughing at the idea of him being as thirsty as liz

“Wait! Don't go! I need details, man! I live vicariously through you! Your sex live is my sex life!“

“As I awoke from my slumber, I found the stranger with the guarded heart, digging through the snow with solemn determination. His muscles glistening in the morning light. Deep within me stirred feelings I had not felt in many moons. It was at that moment that I learned... the Temperature of the Heart- What am I doing?! Stop it! STOP IT!”

Roman saying gnarliest 

“Whoa, an Elucidator! This is the gnarliest sword you can get from a monster drop!”

And the prime friendship with whoever the fuck tiffany is

the fear of janus later

Patton is Silica

“I DON'T WANNA WEAR MY PET, YOU MONSTER!“

Silica ate crayons as a kid

Virigil: “God, do I ever! I can never un-know! These brain cells could've been used to formulate the perfect strategy to get us out of this game! Instead, they've memorized what kind of crayons you liked to eat when you were 4!”

Patton: “I liked the purple ones.” “Yeah, I know! "And the blue ones were too tart!"

Virgil: “Just stay calm! You already have everything you need to beat it!”

Patton: “The power to believe in myself?”

“Nooooo, a knife! Stab it!”

"Oh, right!”

Also this prime time interaction

Patton: “Well, you did just kill someone. Doesn't that make you feel... something?”

Virigil” Oh, feelings? Yeah, I don't have those anymore. Went cold turkey.”

“What?! You can't just do that! What's the point in living if you can't feel happiness, wonder, love...?”

“Or the sweet taste of revenge! You're right, Silica! What's the point in living if I can't enjoy such simple things?”

“Eh, close enough.”

“You're a good friend, Silica. We should go on more adventures.”

“Um, I don't think so. Don't take this the wrong way, Mr. Kirito. I'm grateful for your help, but yoooou're, like, the worst person I've ever met.”

“Is that your big plan here, huh? Make me feel feelings so you can cut me down a peg? That cuts deep, kid. But I respect that.”

Yeah... that's kinda the problem.”

Remy is Heathcliff

“As you can see, I have peeled away your petty facades and revealed you for what you truly are... fairly attractive twenty-somethings, apparently. Good for you. Kinda undermines the whole "cold light of day" thing I had planned, but still. Way to break down stereotypes. 'Cept you, fatty. Way to bring down the curve.“

“Next thing you know, your tutorial NPC is nowhere to be found and players are dropping like Dorito-encrusted flies. Now in this case, any sane man would simply turn off the servers before anyone else got hurt, but because you've now been awake long enough to think the government is run by "Floobar, King of the Mole Men", the best idea that comes to your mind is to double, triple, and quadruple down. So, you lock everyone in the game, tell them they'll die if they don't finish it, and try to make it look like this is all part of your "master plan" instead of an ever-spiralling series of events that you have long since lost control of.”

“Hey, cut me some slack, okay? Can you two even begin to imagine 500 uninterrupted hours of consciousness? Forget mole people! About halfway through I swore I saw the face of God! Until I realized it was just the night janitor, Reki. On the plus side, I gave him a hell of an ego boost. Hmm, man was riding that compliment for days.”

“Yeah, okay. See, Janus, the problem with that... is that it's an excellent idea that I wish I had thought of two years ago.”

Sachi ??????

Others ???????

#this is long but oh well #virgil sanders #Janus Sanders #remus sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #logan sanders #sao abridged #something witty entertainment #sanders sides fic #bullet point fic #other writing things

[katsstudykorner]

How to stop Procrastinating (and how to prevent it)

Alt title; how to stop procrastinating when the time pressure doesn’t kick your ass in motion

Alright so I asked what people wanted to see tips for, and procrastination was a request! To be honest, I’ve never been a huge procrastinator (my anxiety would make me combust), but there’s definitely been one or two times where I have.

So first, I’ll start with preventative tips.

First, make yourself a schedule, written or not. I never write my schedules down because I’m honestly too dang lazy. But I know in my head that if I have a paper due on Tuesday, I want it to be done by Sunday so that I have Monday to edit. Which means I have to start it by the Sunday before at the very latest. So essentially I always give myself a week and two days minimum to do all papers. I do the same with exams. If the exam is on Thursday August 1st, for example, I know I have to start studying by at least the week before. Mental schedules work best for me, but if you find writing it down is better write it somewhere you’ll be forced to see it, like an agenda or in your phone

Second, break things up into small parts. As someone who likes to sit down and get things done in one sitting I used to H A T E being told this. I get it. But find a way to break it down best for you. If you work better in small segments then make your goals small. Ie. if you have a 2000 word paper, do 500 words every day. That should take you only 30 min to an hour tops and then your free, and in the end it only took 4 days (maybe 5-7 if you include planning and editing) If you do better in big segments like me, break it up big. I usually go for a rough outline in one day (just the absolute basics with quotes). Then I do the final outline in a second day. Then the third day I write the essay paragraph by paragraph (I take 20 min break after each paragraph or two). The whole point is to make the essay, project, studying, or whatever seem less daunting so you’re not too nervous to start it.

Third, even when you’re not studying or working on the assignment, think about it! When you’re on the bus, on your break from work, eating lunch, waiting for an ad to be over, anything. I do this mostly for papers, but it really helps with studying too! The more you think about something outside of your studying time the more likely you are to remember it. It especially works if you talk about it with someone. I don’t know why this works, but it does. And when you do it with a paper, by the time you sit down to write it you already know what you want to convey.

Fourth, get into the habit of treating yourself. I always treat myself after handing in a paper or finishing a test or exam. Usually with something sweet and something I normally wouldn’t spend money on. But. I only do it if I feel proud of the work I’ve done. If I know I could’ve spent more time on something... no treat. It gives me something to work towards

Now onto how to STOP PROCRASTINATING

1. Take away all distractions. Use an app that locks your phone, put it in a different room, give it to a friend. Something to get it out of reach. When I really need to crunch down on something I delete all apps off my phone except for google docs and my music. Force yourself to work

2. FaceTime a friend who’s also studying. Keep in mind this won’t work if you two don’t work well together. You have to find someone who you can sit quietly with. My friend and I play a fun little game where we FaceTime and force each other to focus. When the other person is focusing you don’t want to distract them, so you do your work too.

3. If your stressed or overwhelmed, cry it out, eat, take a nap, do whatever you need to calm down. Give yourself 30min to an hour. The get over it and push through. The sooner you push through, the sooner you can relax

4. If you’re confused about something, no matter how close you are to the deadline, email the prof. Call them. Do whatever it takes. Get the answer

5. And honestly, if you’re like 3 hours away from a deadline and not even half done and you haven’t slept... give up. That sounds super pessimistic but email the prof.explain your situation and ask for an extension. Even if you don’t get an extension, give up. Take the L. Most profs dock you between 2 and 5% for being 1 day late (starting one minute after the deadline). And it doesn’t go up until 24 hours after the deadline. Ie, if the paper is due August 1 at midnight, you lose 5% for handing it in between August 1 2:01AM and August 2 12:00AM. It makes more sense to take the extra 24 hours, get some sleep, and make sure you’re writing coherent sentences than it does to hand in a rush sleepy paper. Chances are, if it’s rushed and you were half asleep while writing it, you’ll lose a lot more marks than you would for handing in a good paper late. (Obviously this doesn’t work for exams)

6. Still break things up into parts, as mentioned above, to make the task less daunting

7. For every 30 min you procrastinate, take something away from yourself. Kinda like how your parents would take things away from you when you were a kid if you misbehaved. Take things away and don’t give them back to yourself until your done

And that’s all I can think of! Please add on any other tips!

#studyblr #study tips #study tricks #study help #how to stop procrastinating #procrastination #university #university tricks #university tips #college #student #student tips #university student #college student

[randomisemily]

I wanna rant about getting my driver’s license, but some people might need to know some stuff beforehand, so here you go:

- In Belgium, you have to take a written test on basic knowledge of traffic (rules & signs), passing that test allows you to request for a permit 

- There are two different permits: 1) 36 months: allows you to drive, but not by yourself. 2) 18 months: allows you to drive by yourself. Though, in both cases, you have to take lessons beforehand. 

-You can get your license at the age of 18 

- the driver’s test includes a “risk perception” test (you have to watch a few videos and determine who’s on the road and who’s a risk etc) + also, of course, a test on the road, including a few parking skills

- Additonally, I’d like to mention that the laws concerning learning how to drive and permits etc have changed A LOT the last few years, so if sometimes my rant is confusing, IT IS FOR ME AS WELL

- Every 2 times you fail an exam, you have to take 6 hours of lessons before you are allowed to take the exam again. 

ALRIGHT LETS GET STARTED

So when I was 18, I personally felt like I wasn’t ready to get my license yet. I wasn’t all that interested anyway and because I had friends who could drive, an older brother,... I was happy not driving. It didn’t bother me that much, and when Iook back at that time, I might even add that I might’ve been scared to drive. 

I felt like my life wasn’t too difficult without a license, though I lived in a rural area, I had easy access to busses and, mostly, trains. I also pretty much biked everywhere, and I didn’t mind that much.  

When I was 19, I started dating my fiancé, who had a license and took me everywhere. Some might think he was enabling, but in our case, I think he was just happy to do it. He was patient with me and when I was almost 21, I took the written test and passed. 

See, after that, I’m fuzzy on the details because I’m 28 now. So time has PASSED. But at that time I did decide to get a 36 month license. The reason was mostly financial: for a 18 month license, you have to take more lessons, and the lessons are expensive. (to drive alone, you have to take 20 hours of lessons, which as roughly 1500 euros). BUT for the 36 month permit, it’s only required to take 6 hours, which is rougly 500 euros. Considering the fact I had to pay that myself, I felt like I couldn’t afford the extra 1000 euros. I think, the other reason was that I was scared to drive by myself - maybe even scared to drive at all.

The permit I chose, requires you to get a mentor. Usually, it’s a family member, in my case, it was my dad. I thought it would be a good choice because my dad knows how to drive a truck and has tons of experience. He’s also calm and I thought he’d be good at giving instructions. 

That worked out a little different. It seemed like my dad was, like myself, a little scared to teach me. So here we were: two people who weren’t going to encourage each other to drive. The addition problem was that my dad’s working a lot, so a lot of times I was tired or he was. Yeah, it’s an excuse, and we knew it. 

One time, when were finally practicing, we were on a private road nearby. We were just starting & stopping, you know, the basics. There was a guy walking his Jack Russell, but without a leash. We weren’t going fast at all, but all of the sudden, the dog ran in front of my car. The dog ran off, over a big field, as fast as it could, and eventually, it ran home. We were shocked, scared and felt bad for the dog. The dog wasn’t injured that badly, but it so happened that we also had a similar dog at the time, so we truly felt for the little scared dog. I am, ‘till this day, though, a little angry with the owner because you don’t let your dog off your leash, that’s just my opinion. 

ANYHOW, after practicing a few months or something, we decided I was ready. I felt ready but both my dad and I were NERVOUS AS SHIT. The examirer was 15 minutes late, which only made it worse. My exam was a nightmare, after 5 minutes on the road, I had to go back. Out of nervousness, I didn’t see an old lady crossing the road. It was a disaster and the memory is still vivid. 

A second attempt came around the corner, and this time, I really thought I was ready. It was closer to the time the permit was going to expire, so I really hoped it would work out this time. Failed. This time, I didn’t use my breaks properly. Apparently, my dad had been teaching me wrong and I didn’t remember from the lessons I took. 

I can’t remember anymore why I failed the third time, but I did. And this time, my permit really was about to expire. After failing this time, I had no choice but to let it expire. 

This SUCKED because, as you might do the math, I was already 25 by then. And by the time I was 25, I did in fact, really need a car and a license. I had just graduated college and I needed a job. Schools in general are usually easily accessible by train, so was mine. Jobs, however, are not. For my internship in my last year of college, for example, I had to bike to the train station, take a train, tranfer to another train, take a bus and then bike again. The internship was great, getting there, however, was a nightmare. 

It also sucked because at the time, there was a rule in place, that dictated that if your permit expires, you can’t request a new one. There was a “waiting period” of 3 years. Yes, three YEARS. There are some exceptions because I can still, possibly, get your license during that time if you re-take your written test and take your driving exam with a professional driving school (the one you use to take lessons). This is, in fact, what I tried to do. The tricky part is that, when you’re not on the road during your “normal” life (work, groceries,...) it’s harder to get back on the horse. It was for me, anyway. I tried to the the exam that way twice. I failed twice. After the second time, I still had a year left in that “waiting period”, so I figured I wouldn’t try anymore and just wait it out. During those three years, I got a job nearby where I could bike to. It was alright. 

After the three years, and 5 exams later, I was fed up and I wanted to pass more than ever. But I knew I needed to do better this time. I took the 20 hours (yes, the lessons kept pilling up and so were the bills) so that I could drive alone and get the 18 month permit. By that time, I was also working full time and had moved out and moved in with my fiancé. So I was READY to be an adult and driving alone also meant that freedom I desperately wanted. 

My reasoning was also the fact that I felt like I didn’t have enough real life experience driving a car before. I didn’t need to do groceries, I was still living at home at the time and, as I mentioned, was always practicing with my dad. This time, not only did I want to drive alone, I needed to. 

A few months before the 18 months ended, I wanted to take the test again. Six times a charm, I thought. This time, my “mentor” wasn’t my dad anymore, it was my fiancé. Mind you, my fiance, lovely as he is, is neurotic and full of anxiety (bless his heart). Yet again, I was confronted by my nerves, and his. And failed the test because of my parking skills (or lack of). Actually, I was too nervous and had a minor anxiety attack while parking. 

The next time, I tried to get back on the horse almost right away and tried to take an exam with, not my boyfriend, but a professional driving instructor (€€€€€€). The seventh time almost worked out. I ALMOST passed, until the last few minutes I made a mistake at a crossroads. I mean, fuck. 

For the eight time, I realized I needed to do the same so I scheduled the exam for March this year. Then, of course, a pandemic came knocking on the door. The exam was cancelled and I felt major relief - though, I did need to pass and I knew it. 

After everything re-opened in May, I sort of procrastinated making an appointment again. I just, I couldn’t. I knew I had to, but I had failed this test 7 times. A driving test. Thinking about it, I mean, I have a bachelors degree. I had good job. I’m engaged. But I didn’t have a driver’s license. And no, I’m not a New Yorker. 

But luckily, when I procastinate, my body doesn’t agree and protests. I was watching a Modern Family episode one night where Haley struggled to get her license and I felt her pain so much. My heart was racing. I got nervous and flustered. And this continued. I was watching anyone driving on tv and I continued having tiny panic attacks. Talk about triggers: people driving. 

Anyway, I finally managed to call to make the apointment (took a lot of energy). I, again, made an appointment with a professional instructor. Though it was more expensive, it was the best approach. My car is old and driving my car to the exam would also mean I’d have to deal with my nervous (and not helping at all) fiancé. I knew I needed a steady and experienced person by my side. 

Yesterday, I took the test and I passed. Eight years and eight tries. 

I thought I would be ecstatic, but I wasn’t. I mean, I was. But honestly, It’s all been hitting me. Slowly. 

I’ve had this extreme fear. Extreme shame. Extreme anxiety for years. Because of that, it’s like, I have to process everything. I mean, everything. For example, I can now drive to my job, no strings attached. I can find a better job, that’s not as nearby. We bought a house to a rural area so it’s hard NOT to drive a car. I used to fear I’d feel locked up in the house as long as I didn’t have my license. Now, I have to process that this won’t be the case anymore and I can experience that freedom. There have been so many small things that I had to adjust to. Also, the shame I experienced. It’s just GONE now. Just simply, GONE. 

But in any case, I’m also super stoked. And the reason I ranted was

1) to express myself and get it off my chest but also

2) if anyone experiences the same thing (or a similar thing) to assure that it happened to me too.  

And for anyone who doesn’t want to ride with me - I totally understand but I took so many classes I consider it an asset. Not only do I know the laws of driving SUPER WELL, I am NEVER going to jeopardize it by driving badly. Because I ain’t planning on losing what I’ve got! 

thank you for reading or scrolling 

#driving #Driver's License #driving test #anxiety

[douchebagbrainwaves]

IT WILL BE ABOUT WHATEVER YOU DISCOVER IN THE COURSE OF TECHNOLOGY, AND SOME TRAINS OF THOUGHT JUST PETER OUT

If you're going to have a deep understanding of what you're doing; the kind of people you want to work on them, and investing is for most of the founders spent all their time building their applications. PayPal cofounder Max Levchin showed that their software scaled only 1% as well on Windows as Unix. The tragedy of the situation is that by far the greatest liability of not having gone to the college you'd have liked is your own feeling that you're thereby lacking something. But it was hard to say at the time that this was a big market. When you notice a whiff of dishonesty coming from some kind of exit strategy, because you couldn't establish the level of university you'd need as a seed. Would a basketball team trade one of their own, you can make yourself do it you have a list of all the things you shouldn't do, you can prove what you're saying, or at least lacked some concepts that would have made their lives easier. Result: this revolution, if it isn't, how do you pick good programmers if you're not a programmer? A recruiter at a big company, for whom ideally you'd work your whole career. A few CEOs' incomes reflect some kind of wrongdoing. So the real question is not how to convert that wealth into money.

Underpaying people at the beginning of their career only works if everyone does it. The idea even flowed back into big companies. But I do at least know now why I didn't. Maybe it would be a well-paying but boring job at a big company—and that scale of improvement can change social customs. There is some momentum involved. But if you look at how famous startups got started, a lot of catches as an eight year old outfielder, because whenever a fly ball came my way, I used to think the good ones, at least in the US are auto workers, schoolteachers, and civil servants happier than actors, professors, and professional athletes? Indeed, one of our habits of mind to invoke. Wikipedia may be the most famous recent startup in Europe, Skype, worked on a problem that seems too big, I always ask: is there some way to bite off some subset of the problem was that he wanted his own computer.

Which means that any sufficiently promising startup will be offered money on terms they'd be crazy to believe your company was going to study philosophy remained intact. The difficulty of firing people is a meaningful test, because although, like any everyday concept, human is fuzzy around the edges, there are ways to decrease its effects. The best they can do whatever's required themselves. So if you want to start a startup. If it's a subset, you'll have to ram them down people's throats. A list of n things. A startup is a company designed to grow fast, I mean it in two senses.

So if you're going to start a startup, you're probably going to have to do whatever it is eventually. If you want to attract to your silicon valley. The war was due mostly to external forces, and calls itself I. There continued to be bribes, as there still are everywhere, but only a few of them. All the unfun kinds of wealth creation slow dramatically in a society where I was the richest, but much more on them than the college. But it means if you have a free version and a pay version, don't make the free version too restricted. The usual way is to hire good programmers and let them choose.

Why bother checking the front page of any specific paper or magazine? People did start their own company. I thought she was being deliberately eccentric. But it's not humming with ambition. The key to this puzzle is to remember that art has an audience. P 500 in 1958 had been there an average of 61 years. He called a maximally elegant proof one out of God's book, and it was practically impossible to find alternatives. Who would rely on such a test? At the beginning of his career, an actor is a waiter who goes to work for you without giving them options likely to be of the simplest possible type: a few main points with few to no subordinate ones, and your knowledge won't break down in edge cases, as it would if you were willing to sell early on. And if you don't let people into it. I think the root of the problem, then gradually expand from there?

Most people who write about procrastination write about how to make a conscious effort to find smart friends. Within a few decades of the founding of Apple, Steve Wozniak still hadn't quit HP. People tend to; I'm skeptical about the idea of delivering desktop-like applications over the web. If you write software to teach Tibetan to Hungarians, you won't have any habits of mind is to ask whether the ideas represent some kind of art, stop and figure out what's going on. To do that well meant to get good grades so they can get into a good college. There's nothing more they need to do more than find good projects. In particular, they don't have any is that they don't enjoy it. I doubt I believed I understood them, but though they can end up in the same business. In high school I decided I was going to take care of you. It's significant that the most famous examples is Apple, whose board made a nearly fatal blunder in firing Steve Jobs. Yuppies were young professionals who made lots of money. You needed to take care of the company are the real powers, and the granary the wealth that each family created.

I don't know if I learned anything from them. This probably makes them less productive, because they don't know what you're going to have to think about the future, just that you think may be due to a crime well enough executed that it had been a time of consolidation, led especially by J. If a successful startup usually has three phases: There's an initial period of slow or no growth while the startup tries to figure out. I spend a lot of users, so they must be smarter than they seem. Whereas if you want to achieve, and to hold true to it no matter what setbacks you encounter. But change was coming soon. Even Microsoft sees it, but it's not part of any specific paper or magazine? 0 referred to whatever those might turn out to be more entrepreneurial, and less afraid of risk. The reason they don't have good colleagues to inspire them.

Another place democracy seems to win is in deciding what counts as news. A couple months ago, one VC firm almost certainly unintentionally published a study showing bias of this type. Materially and socially, technology seems to be a police state, and although present rulers seem enlightened compared to the last, even enlightened despotism can probably only get you part way toward being a great economic power. No matter what you do. You need a big prime number? It's as if they had. So long as you can, and you'll leave the right things undone. Culturally we have ever less common ground. What happened to him? For example, many startups in America begin in places where it's not really legal to run a business.

Thanks to Matthias Felleisen, John Collison, Erann Gat, Ron Conway, Jessica Livingston, and Robert Morris for inviting me to speak.

#automatically generated text #Markov chains #Paul Graham #Python #Patrick Mooney #basketball #Europe #cofounder #family #afraid #people #time #company #ways #Result #PayPal #audience #Livingston #terms #version #despotism #career #programmers #Culturally #Morris #ambition #tragedy #Yuppies #things

[davidchill]

This Is My Truth - The Final Blog (For Now)

After over ten years of writing a personal blog I feel that now would be a good time to wrap things up. I’m sure I’ll still write blogs from time-to-time, but they’ll be a completely different animal to this curious beast.

Social media has changed an awful lot over the years. As I scroll through my timeline this morning all I see are snappy memes, gifs, people arguing with strangers about the perils of Brexit, and sponsored posts based on my browsing habits.

Another thing that’s changed is how people engage and interact with others. Over the years I’ve seen friends who appeared to be warm and affable suddenly go stone cold and aloof, virtually overnight. Typed communication can often be misinterpreted or misconstrued, and I have, on a few occasions, tried to strike up friendships with people who I’ve genuinely liked, only for their shields to go up - and I watch them vanish at warp speed.

The truth has always been important to me - so when people lie in order to make their lives easier I find myself distancing myself from them so they don’t need to lie anymore. But I can’t judge anyone. Lying is easy. Anyone can lie. How many lies have got people out of awkward social situations without damaging the friendship? Thousands, I would imagine. The truth is much harder to swallow at times. So if you’ve found this blog to be a difficult read then that’s certainly not a bad thing.

Of course, a few “friends” haven’t stayed the course, and opted to “unfriend” or “unfollow” me on social media for posting “too many dog photos” or “too many blogs on mental health”. Well… all I can offer here is my “sperm” analogy…

“Out of the approximately 1,000 sperm that enter the fallopian tube, only about 200 reach the egg. The rest get attached to the lining of the oviduct, or just give out and die. Out of the approximately 200 sperm that reach the egg, only one fertilizes the egg.”

If you’ve stuck by me on Facebook during the most turbulent period of my life (between 2014 and the present day) then consider yourself a healthy sperm. The others might resurface in a few years when everything in my life is hunky-dory and say “Is it safe to be your friend again?” but they have no chance of reaching the egg.

In this case the “egg” is a metaphor for my “circle of trust”.

Friends don’t fall off the radar when you struggle with your mental health, and nor do they sit back and watch you struggle financially when they *could* throw you a bone. Oh, and they certainly don’t walk away when you share anecdotes about your dog.

So if you are still with me - thank you. And if you’re sitting comfortably then let’s begin...

Keeping the Faith

For much of my adult life I never had a huge amount of faith in myself. Too many crushing doubts played on my mind as to what role I had in this world - or even if I had a part to play. My creative abilities were certainly brought into question, as I lie awake at night wondering when people would wake up and give me the same amount of judgement and scrutiny that I subjected myself to on a daily basis.

Despite a very happy home life I was a prime target for the school bullies - thanks to a winning combination of ginger hair and small, round head - so it’s hardly surprising that I entered adulthood with several insecurities and a huge chip on my shoulder. Children can be cruel and wretched creatures at times. Snotty-nosed brats.

Throughout college I drew comic strips at every available opportunity and was always genuinely flabbergasted when my peers told me how talented and gifted I was - and how much they loved my sense of humour. Well, my written word - as I was practically mute in those days. “You’d be funny if you spoke!” commented one guy.

While most of the students gallivanted off to university I chose not to pursue further education and opted to get a “real” job in order to feed my comic book addiction. So for the next six or seven years I took on a variety of roles… packing plastic, kennel hand, factory worker.

I’m not sure what my parents thought of me coming home covered in dog poo and toner dust - but my duties were the perfect cover for an artistic creative soul who had zero faith in his abilities. I couldn’t fail.

Unfortunately my cover was blown in 1998 when my line manager insisted on promoting me to “champion operator” - a job that involved assembly work, but also gave me the opportunity to walk around with a bit of paper and use the new fangled “e-mail” system that was becoming popular in the workplace. “What is this wizardry?” I asked myself, as I bluffed my way through the job.

It was during this time that I was asked to give a PowerPoint presentation to an office full of co-workers and the type of senior management you’d cross the street to avoid if you saw them out shopping on a Saturday morning. When the CEO gave his feedback on the presentations he threw the spotlight on me and said; “David, I thought you were excellent.”

Swine. “I’m a fraud I tell you!” (I didn’t actually say that out loud)

Thankfully, just before my head expanded to dangerous levels of self belief I was made redundant from the position. This was no reflection on me - the whole company went under. Nothing to do with my “excellent” presentation skills or the time I spent walking around with a bit of paper.

The following year I was inflicted with a condition called spasmodic torticollis and forced to take three months off work. In English; I suffered with a severe muscle spasm in my neck. As a result, my chin was permanently touching my shoulder and only lying down made me feel “normal”. We didn’t have box sets to lift the mood in those days, so it was an extremely dark chapter in my life. I was pumped full of valium, I couldn’t drive or walk the dog, and my mother had to chop my food up for me.

Eventually, after a series of tests, the consultant told me I’d have to have injections in my neck - but this wouldn’t guarantee success. Truth be told I became very low and depressed - but, with the support of my friends and family, I got through each day. One of my church friends even picked me up, took me to church, and prayed for me. This wasn’t like my “last rites” or anything, I hasten to add.

One day, as I walked into town, all hunched up and averting eye contact - something very peculiar happened. My head wasn’t tilting to one side anymore and I found myself walking in a STRAIGHT line. “What is this hogwashery?!” I thought to myself. “I’m walking with my head in an upright position!”

The specialist who mooted the idea of injections then examined me, scratched his head, and concluded that I was some kind of weird “enigma”. Yes, it took three months of pain, frustration and fear to reach the conclusion that I was a bit odd. Blimey, I didn’t need to go through all that to work that one out.

The Slippery Slope

Several years later, and after being made redundant three times between 1998 and 2003, I was beginning to think I was cursed.

In 2006 I quit full-time employment and went down the “self-employed” route - mostly focusing on wedding websites for the subsequent eight years. On reflection that was far too long to spend on one endeavour, and a few close friends urged me to expand my portfolio. Again, I felt “safe” doing wedding websites, the money was coming in, and I didn’t want to run the risk of straying too far. However, I should have taken the advice given to Peter Davison when Patrick Troughton advised him to only play the Doctor for three years. Eight years is a very long time in the world of technological advances, and I became the Ken Barlow of wedding websites.

Looking back, it’s not surprising the work had a detrimental impact on my mental health. I poured my heart and soul into those blasted websites, and sometimes sat up until 3am to please my transatlantic Bridezillas. Sometimes Groomzillas. No, I didn’t *have* to, but when I take on a role I like to give it my all.

Unfortunately because my “office” was then based in my bedroom I could never “switch off” and those sites consumed me to a point where my anxiety and depression deepened. The line between business and pleasure just became far too blurred and it became a seven day week thing.

After all the stress of moving into my maisonette (and then buying the maisonette) I still found the websites to be an extremely negative factor in my mental health. Things got on top of me and I’d begin to procrastinate… put off tasks, until, eventually, I hit my brick wall. My dark place.

Enter Luna, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier X Akita, who took a lot of stick for being the author of my demise. No, she was merely the straw that broke the camels back.

Before I knew it, I lost my regular income after being told that my services were no longer required. Sadly, despite being told that my salary would be safe until January 2014, it was then slashed by £500 for two months on the trot. November and December, respectively.

Suddenly, I had this huge financial hole to fill… and a mortgage to pay. When you lose £1000 without sufficient forewarning then what do you do? No money from extra part-time work would have reached me in time - even if my mind had been “fit” to work. The anxiety just consumed me, and the mind starts imagining these highly unlikely scenarios… My neck condition might flare up again… I might lose the dog… I might lose my home.

Okay, that last one actually happened.

People often tell me that debt is a slippery slope that should be avoided at all costs. People who’ve never experienced debt to the extent that I did. My friends, I’ve taken to that slope. I’m the Eddie “the Eagle” Edwards of the slippery slope.

So yes, I know that debt begins very slowly... and it gradually creeps up on you… the £5 penalty charge on your emergency borrowing becomes £10, £15, £20… and then you’re late with the gas and electric bill… and then BOOM! You’ve lost your home and overzealous cleaners are pulling things off your wall as you struggle to pack everything into boxes.

I lost more that day than I can ever put into words, and I’ve hated myself for it ever since.

Yes, people made my life more difficult than it needed to be, and some people could have helped more - rather than just telling me it’d all be okay. But I lost everything because I lost faith in myself.

There’s No Guarantors

Today, eighteen months after losing my home, I’m sat here writing a business plan - and I find myself in this role reversal. Almost like a weird mirror universe from Star Trek. Suddenly, for perhaps the first time in my life, I have faith in myself - but others are doubting my judgement, or have very little faith in my abilities.

Whenever I hear that someone has been awarded a business loan I punch the air [on their behalf]. Even if it’s someone on Twitter who I don’t know very well - I always make a point of congratulating them and wishing them well in their new endeavour. Or endeavor if they’re American.

With me, I expect a few would question if I knew what I was doing.

Not that I was awarded a business loan, but I came very close. Honestly, my heart sank when Eugene (the guy from the bank) uttered the words “We just need your guarantor…”

Guarantor? Me? Find a guarantor? He might as well have asked me to find the hair of a Sasquatch, a stool sample of a dodo, and the DNA of William the Conqueror.

“Hey, dear,” says a friend, turning to his partner. “David C. Hill is looking for a guarantor for his business loan. You in?” “The same David C. Hill with the anxiety issues?” “Yep.” “The same David C. Hill who had 5,000 comic books printed without testing the market?” “Yep.” “The same David C. Hill who lost his home after falling into a horrifying amount of debt?” “Yes, dear. You in?”

Yes, I had to ask… but of course I can’t blame anyone for not rising to the challenge.

My new bank friend, Eugene, then followed up with a phone call to assure me that the £10,000 funding would be granted if I could give him a name. So I looked at Luna, and for that brief moment her eyes just said “Don’t look at me!”

The “Homer Simpson” in me thought about seeing how far I could go with this guarantor lark. “John. My guarantor’s name is John. John Smith. His address? 12… Evergreen Terrace.”

Sadly, it’s going to be almost impossible for me to come back from that defeat of losing my home. That sort of thing sticks. It’s like I have “not good with money” or “dog who returns to his vomit” scrawled on my forehead. It’s akin to someone on a dodgy register trying to acquire a job as a school caretaker.

No, to paraphrase Tiffany, the pop goddess of 1987… “I think I’m alone now.”

People will argue that if my business plan was that convincing then I wouldn’t need a guarantor. However, these days banks are far more guarded when it comes to funding businesses. I don’t have any assets therefore I need someone with assets to have my back. My 27” iMac won’t cut the mustard as an asset.

Anyway, I’m sure most people can find a guarantor with relative ease. If a guarantor was such a ridiculous concept then requiring a guarantor wouldn’t even be a thing. According to the website, 98% of businesses are successfully funded. So I guess that places me in the 2% camp.

It’s been a week of bad news, and it would be so easy for me to slip into a depression and consume my body weight in wine gums. My car payment has just bounced and I have more rent due in ten days, and now I’m telling people that without funding my business can’t move forward.

I know the rich frown upon those who have to take out loans, and in the last few years I’ve seen the rich grow considerably richer. But I don’t think some people realise how rich they are, and how, if they need something, they can just go out and buy it - or ask their rich family to chip in. Of course most people have worked very hard for their wealth - but the majority of people do work very hard. I know at least two nurses who work for the NHS and they work exceptionally gruelling shifts. So one should never judge the rich - or the poor.

Yes, some people do inherit wealth or marry into rich families, so not all the rich work hard - and not everyone who’s poor works hard either. Sometimes ill-health doesn’t permit you to work long hours - and yes, lazy work shy fops do exist.

If I have to calumniate £5,000 or £10,000 worth of debt in order to make £20k then I’ll do it. All businesses need funding and we don’t all have savings to inject into our cashflow. People who don’t have debt a get bit sniffy about it, but there’s no shame in having manageable debt - and sometimes it’s a necessary evil.

Final Words

There’s always a way forward. Sometimes its not about working harder - it’s about working smarter. And I have enough faith in myself to know that I can work smarter. I’ll find a way forward, even if I do have to accrue debt - even if I have to march into hell for a heavenly cause. People will call me batcrap crazy, and people will cast doubt on me, but that’s to be expected. Life is very short, memories are very precious, and sometimes those of us who want to achieve our goals need to take calculated risks.

My greatest fear is losing faith in myself - because that will be the day that I die. But that’s never going to happen. I mean losing faith in myself - I fully except to die one day! I’m not Connor MacLeod, Mister Immortal, or Captain Jack Harkness.

Thank you to those who have helped me over the last few years - and those who continue to support my work. Make no mistake, when I’m rich I’m not going to live in a huge castle, pull up the drawbridge and yell “Let them eat cake!”. I’m going to live in a modest dwelling and help those who have helped me in the past.

That’s my guarantee.

[daryldamnson]

Billy Hargrove Headcanons:  Christmas Shopping

Request ( @blowuptheoutside ):  A Steve or Billy hc where they take you shopping for your Christmas. I️ love you btw❤️

Steve came first, but the Billy version is finally here!

You roll your eyes and groan every time he says “let’s take a break and make out” (but secretly you love it)

After the fifth time in an hour you told him he was banned of all kisses until he bought Max the perfect present because you knew he was procrastinating that

He wasn’t happy, but gave in after 10 minutes and bought her a brand new, top-of-the-line skateboard

You were actually really impressed by the amount of time and thought he put into it as he looked at all the different skateboards

Of course, when you told him this he shrugged it off and played it all ‘hard man’

(but of course he enthusiastically accepted the kiss you gave him for being such a sweetheart inside)

There was one time you’d gotten so carried away (all pressed up against the wall, Billy’s hands in your hair and his mouth eagerly pressed to yours), that it wasn’t until a passer-by wolf-whistled loudly that you even remembered you were in public

You ripped yourself away from him, embarrassed, but Billy didn’t give a shit about the publicness

The thing he did get upset about was the way that the wolf-whistler was looking at you

(you pulled him back after the first punch he threw and also managed to outrun the security guard, so in the end everything turned out okay)

He laughs at you when you complain about your feet aching, but if you seem serious he’ll deadass give you a piggy-back until you’re ready to walk again

You protested a lot when you first got together, but by now you’ll happily hop onto his back to relieve your feet

Not just because you had full access to kiss his neck and his cheeks and whisper sappy and/or funny things to him

(mostly because you had full access to kiss his neck and his cheeks and whisper sappy and/or funny things to him)

He always forgets at least one person that he needs to shop for

Which means you have to go more than once

Even though every year you remind him to write a list, he never does, and he kisses you until you stop giving him The Look Of Disappointment™

Sometimes you think he does it on purpose, because the look in his eyes when you agree to go back to the mall (which is like a 45-minute drive away) with him for the second – and sometimes third – time is so soft and pure that your heart melts

Requests are open for both headcanons and imagines, so send some in

Side note:  I’m almost at 500 followers and that’s pretty fuckin rad, thanks guys

Billy Hargrove disclaimer:  Okay, so I have to have it noted that I hate Billy Hargrove with a passion - he’s a racist abusive asshole, let’s be honest.  However… I acc do really like reading fics about Billy, it’s like my guilty pleasure.  I’m so ashamed bc I really do dislike his character canon.  But when it comes to fanfics you can write your characters as OOC as you want, which means I’m going to change him just a little.  He’ll still be An Asshole™, but he’ll be a redeemable one (read: not racist or abusive).

#billy hargrove #billy hargrove headcanons #billy hargrove imagine #billy hargrove x reader #dacre montgomery #dacre montgomery imagine #headcanons #headcanons request #requested #stranger things imagine #stranger things #stranger things headcanons

[ld-pandamao]

Daily Report 2—11:50PM, Saturday, March 21st, 2020

I flossed last night, but I slept later than eleven-thirty. Also, my legs are sore right now, and I am not certain if it means I am out of shape or that I did not cool down properly. Also, there is no way I’m sleeping on time today. Today has been interesting, mostly filled with procrastination and all.

Most eventful, or maybe most meaningful is my organization today. I went through a lot of old papers, which included a stack of old “certificates” that I ended up putting into page protectors and organizing in a binder. They felt eons ago, colorful papers praising the “creativity” or “open-mindedness” of an elementary student, along with others on “perfect attendance” and “All A honor roll.” There were also quite a few from various extracurriculars. Perhaps I should have been filled with nostalgia. Instead, I was filled with scorn, maybe even derision.

Lies, cried an inner voice. Lies, lies, lies! Indeed, they seemed like participation awards, mass-produced on colorful paper, worthless, but maybe priceless to kids. I fail to recall my attitude towards them, but I am certain that I would not have cared for them unless I did not receive one. After all, I had put them away in a pile, never to be looked at again save for when reorganizing. The ones from junior high were more significant, and starting ninth grade—the first year of high school—and after were the truly meaningful ones, but they were far outnumbered by the shams from elementary school.

Still, another part of me was indignant, crying for retribution. When had my elementary school teachers ever cared for me, gotten to know me well enough to say “creative” or “open-minded?” Those words merely echoed the selections parents made on forms to be turned into teachers or at best the opinions of peers. I have had a bad elementary school experience, but I failed to realize it until I was out of it, until I was nearing the end of middle school, tormented at night by the spiraling thoughts.

A more rational voice chided that my teachers probably did care, at some point, but I just don’t remember. I am being too dramatic. That was many, many years ago. Indeed, when looking back on it, I feel detached. The memory of sleepless, tear-filled nights does not move my heart, but nor can I ever cast it aside and say that it was nothing. The only thing I can do is move on, as I already have, for I would have been the only one trapped in time, because other than my parents, who probably only barely remember, nobody remembers.

Perhaps that contributed to the agony. In my younger years, my memory was amazing. Even now, it is nothing to scoff at, but back then, it seemed like I hardly forgot anything. Thus, it was terrifying to look back, at happy moments, neutral moments, fearful moments, and see everything underlying. It was terrifying because somehow, those were the only things I saw. No, that is false. I recalled good times, I still do. Yet, those were far outnumbered by bad, and that felt wrong. It felt like I must have forgotten something, but for the life of me, I could not reach past it, and instead was met with repeating scenes that became increasingly traumatizing with each replay. How sad, that they meant nothing to me in the four years of elementary school, but haunted me for four years afterwards.

I suppose I'll be breaking the 500-word rule today because I still have so much more to say. I might also be breaking my rule of trying to post two things every day except for the first day if I do not hasten my writing.

I prefer not to dwell on that aspect of my past too much. High school had harsher worries and everything after only became more dramatic. However, I do feel slightly better after having vented on it slightly. I do not wish to go into the details now, but perhaps later. Everything later. Nothing now.

There was also a set of certificates from an extracurricular that gave me another memory. I recalled my mother getting on to me for cleaning my desk again and telling me to throw away all the papers I did not need. At the time, I had tossed one such certificate into the pile to be thrown away, expecting a reaction. I do not remember what I was expecting nor how I felt as I did it nor even how she reacted, but I feel as if that instance is significant, somehow. The significance is not in whether the paper was recycled or retrieved.

"This is an award, it is not trash or something to be thrown away," she had admonished me lightly, once. I do not remember if there were repeated incidents. Silly child, conveyed the smile. It was a sweet moment.

I have many memories like these. Memories that give me a special feeling, a weird occasion when I can't decipher if the emotion is positive or negative, but it also does not seem to matter. These memories are like puzzles, a sort of code only for myself, and I almost feel as if even if I were to write out each excruciating detail, the meaning would only be, perhaps not even be, privy to me.

Quickly now, time is running out. Yesterday, I did interval training, though I referred to it as cardio, as I usually do for anything that falls out of the realm of flexibility and strength. My legs are still sore, though not as much as this morning, but I did not do specific exercises today. I did organize, and I would not consider the task complete, but I made a fair amount of progress. Sadly, I have woefully neglected work that I must do that I have not mentioned on this blog. I shall sleep soon, once again hoping for a better tomorrow. Goodnight.

#Journal #DailyRecord #Mystory #Elementary #Certficate

[my-infp-world]

so.. If part of who I am starts to trouble me and others (such as my reluctance, and maybe fear, to step out of the house and interact with people, paralizing procrastination, and lack of confidence to travel out of my small town to study in the big city next year as well as the resolve to decide all of the questions it involves before it leaves me a year behind) what are the first steps one should take to get better?

I’ll start by saying that I’m no professional, so please take any advice I give with a grain of salt. But at the same time, I’ve experienced something similar so I can kind of explain how I dealt with it on my own and the feelings I had while going through it. Hopefully, something in what I say helps you too!

Throughout high school, I was the stereotypical wallflower. I wasn’t in any clubs, I didn’t go to any activities that weren’t required of me, I barely even spent time with the few friends I actually managed to have. And by few, I mean I could count my friends on my hands and the ones that I really trusted, well…..at the time, I don’t think I had any of those. I was shy, quiet, a worrier, pessimist, a person afraid of change, and because of all that, I often felt incapable and lost with no way to fix that, and no one that I felt I could talk to.

So, at the time, I had that same reluctance to leave my house (my room even, I would only come out for necessities), that procrastination, and that lack of confidence. If I’m being honest, that lack of confidence actually stopped me from leaving my hometown for college. I grew up there, had the same people around me my entire life, I knew everything around me, nothing was unfamiliar to me in my hometown. And to leave all of that? That sounded terrifying. I couldn’t fathom a change like that. I had a choice to make and a risk I could’ve taken and I didn’t even consider it, I just decided to ignore it. To this day, part of me regrets that choice I made, that’s always a voice in the back of my head asking me “What if…”

I think it was that voice coupled with that regret that I feel sometimes that drove me to make a change. Keep in mind, this was four years ago and that change did not come easy. To tell you the truth, I still struggle with it sometimes today. But what I can say is that I started to change my mindset. I entered a local college after I graduated, and I let that “what if…” voice take control of my mind. Instead of feeling lost, I fell into more of a despair, my thoughts were dark, I gave up on a lot including myself. I let the guilt and regret win. It won for a while too. 

About a year into college, I realized what I did to myself. Everything that I just explained, I hadn’t realized I was going through while it was happening, somehow, one day, I was able to take a step back and recognize what I had let myself fall into. THIS is where I decided that I needed to make a change. I didn’t want to feel that regret again, to miss any opportunities that I could have taken but….just didn’t. I realized that the voice that kept whispering “what if…” didn’t only have to have a bad outcome. Because “What if….it makes me happy?”. “What if….it makes me feel better?” “What if….it turned out to be fun?”.

I started looking at things differently. Sure, everything could turn to ruin and everything could catch on fire and I could find myself running in circles without a solution. But y’know? The probability of that happening was pretty slim. Things could disappoint me, sure. But it wouldn’t be the end of the world, I could pick myself back up if I fell. But if I didn’t ever take that step, how would I know that I wouldn’t have been able to remain standing? How did I know I wouldn’t end up flying? It was that thought process that began to make me move. I didn’t want to feel that regret anymore. 

Don’t get me wrong here. Sometimes the negative thoughts still win, it wasn’t an automatic solution, it’s still a work in progress. But I can tell you that I’m a bit more proud of myself because sometimes I’m able to stand up to that voice. I want to find out for myself what’s on the other side of that “What if…” instead of letting my imagination do it for me. Because my imagination can be a jerk sometimes and most of the time, reality doesn’t match it. That wallflower that used to be as unassociated with clubs and activities and friends has changed. And I like who I’ve become. Who I’m becoming. I have a friend that I can count on for anything, I’m a secretary for an association at my university and hold a chair position in another club I’m involved in. Earlier this year, I attended a technology conference alone with 500 strangers and while I almost had a panic attack in the beginning, I got through it, because it was an experience I felt like I could learn something from (I learned a bit but I mostly got some cool free stuff for attending).

So I guess I want to wrap this up kind of cleanly. So If you’re anything like me, you have a voice that’s telling you not to do anything, telling you all of the bad things that could come out of it. My advice is to start asking yourself the opposite of it. If it says “What if you fail?” ask it “What if I succeed?”. If it asks “What if they laugh at you?” ask it “What if they laugh with me? Or better yet, what if they applaud me?”. Challenge yourself and step forward when you feel comfortable. Don’t force yourself because, at the end of the day, it is your life. You should be happy with how you live it. It won’t work right away, but it will start to make you more curious about the possibilities out there and maybe one will catch your eye enough to help you take that next step forward. 

If you want me to explain anything more (because I feel like I just started blabbing, then send another ask! I’ll be sure to answer it :) P.S. I still have that terrible procrastination, but I get through it most of the time, at least right before deadlines....) 

#asks #Anonymous #a mini life story #sorry for the length #I decided to add a bit more

[metteivieharrison]

What Are Your Writing Habits?

I know that when I was starting writing, I was endlessly fascinated with other writers’ habits. Did they write every day? Did they have a writing goal each day? Did they write in the same place each time? Did they write long hand or on a computer in a draft? Did they keep snacks where they were, so they didn’t get up or did they plan breaks into their writing process? Did they go back over what they had written the day before or did they just move forward? Did they use an outline or not? How did they create an outline? Did they write about their characters before they started or just listen to dialog? On and on.

Yes, this is interesting. But frankly, it’s mostly a distraction from the work of writing. I suspect most people do this because they’re looking for someone who has habits similar to their own, so they can say to themselves, see, here’s another person who does this crazy thing that I do to get going. See, my way is right. See, it can work this way and still lead to publication.

So let’s just get that over with to begin with. Whatever your process and whatever your habits, if they lead to you getting words on a page on a regular basis, to producing a complete manuscript, and they work for you, then they’re right. There may be no way to change them, even if you want to.

(Caveat here: if your writing method includes you having to drink a copious amount of alcohol before you can get anything down on the page, this might not be the best method. Likewise, if you can’t write unless you have absolute quiet or a certain set of ideal circumstances, consider that you are actually procrastinating instead of using a method that works for you.)

If you’re interested, my writing habits have changed a lot over the years. Before I had children and was working full-time, I often wrote right after dinner for as long as it took to get my word count (500 words at the time). When my children were small, I wrote during naptime (I enforced naptime rather strictly until they were in school—I don’t care if you’re sleepy, it’s naptime!). At that time, my goal was 1500 words. Then I reached a point where I realized that my word count goal was doing bad things to my writing. It was making me write every sentence as long as possible because that would get me closer to my end goal. So I changed my goal to 10 pages, and when I realized that I was writing one sentence at the top of a page before I hit a hard return to begin a new page, I stopped with that goal and started having a goal based on scenes and chapters instead.

These days, I no longer have a separate office where I keep the door closed to remind my kids to give me space because my kids are all teenagers and I might never see them if I did that. Instead, I work on the living room couch so I can say goodbye and greet them when they come home. I often work a few hours in the morning and take a long lunch break (with a workout). In the mornings, I focus on new work and in the afternoons, I’ll do correspondence or other things. If I’m on deadline, I work on that as a priority, and if I finish what I need to do, I might write a short essay as a “treat.”

None of this matters, as I said, except as a matter of curiosity. You’re going to find your own habits that work and they will likely change over time. I never used to write by outline, but am now doing it a lot and think it’s marvelous.

Get the words out. Write what you love and feel called to write. Find patterns that enable these two things and you’re good.

[ahumanintraining]

happy birthday

it doesn’t bother him a single tick. —shallura

also read on: ao3 // part of “the princess and the paladin” series.

notes:  lol i'll be honest, i hate this prompt and i hate what i wrote for this. i literally. i did not want to post this but. ugh. forgive me. it's not my best.

As the last few seconds to midnight pass, the Paladins sit back into the couches with content smiles on their faces after a well-spent day celebrating Hunk's birthday.

Hunk sighs, looking up at the ceiling. "Thank you, everyone," he says, then brings his eyes back down to his teammates. "Seriously — this might have been the best birthday I've ever had. I mean, it's not every day that your friends bring you to a cool new planet and take you asteroid surfing."

"Of course," Keith says softly, arms crossed but eyes gentle. "You deserve the best."

"And I'll take the credit for discovering that planet in the first place," Lance interjects, kicking his legs back. "When I saw that rainbow waterfall, you know the first person I thought of was you, my man."

"Good thing I was able to build a proper surfboard in time, too," Pidge adds. "Otherwise that plan would have sunk."

"Yeah that waterfall was pretty awesome," Hunk replies to Lance, then turns to Pidge. "And I didn't expect surfing to be as fun as it is back on Earth." He smiles, thinking about the entire day all over again. "Thanks, everyone," he says once more, but then his eyebrows furrow. "You know something though? We've celebrated all of our birthdays but I don't think Allura's birthday ever came up yet, right?"

"True," Lance agrees, sitting up and looking over at Shiro. "When is Allura's birthday?"

The other three paladins suddenly look over at him as well.

Shiro returns a strained smile. "Why would I know?"

"Do we actually go over this again?" Pidge replies snidely. "Everyone already knows you two are totally in bed with each other."

Shiro furrows his eyebrows. "What?"

"Oh, come on," Lance says loudly, rolling his eyes. "He's never going to admit it."

"For real," Keith mutters.

"Whatever, leave him alone," Hunk drawls, shrugging the whole situation off. "Do you even know when Allura's birthday is?"

The other paladins look at him, expectantly.

But Shiro's already been jogging his memory — and he realizes that he's never actually asked the princess.

"...no," he admits.

And what a shame because he thought he would at least know when she was born before knowing what positions she liked best in bed.

When and however her birthday is celebrated, they decide, it has to be a surprise, and so after being assigned to find out when Allura's birthday is, Shiro goes right to his most trusted ally when it comes to everything he needs to know about Allura, but unfortunately for him, Coran is confused the moment Shiro asks.

“Birthday? What’s that?” Coran asks him, with a thoughtful twirl of his mustache.

Shiro isn’t sure if he is making a joke by feigning ignorance — mostly because the older Altean had quite a different taste in humor, not only because of his eccentrics but also having come from a completely different galaxy, not to mention being many thousand years apart — so he answers earnestly.

“The day someone was born,” Shiro clarifies. And then he pauses for a moment before he repeats. “I was just asking if you knew Allura’s birthday.”

Coran untangles his finger from his mustache and rests his chin in his hand, contemplative. “Well…it has been a long time since Allura was born.” He thinks a little more. “I’d bet she was born maybe about 700 million ticks ago.”

Shiro’s eyebrows knit together. “Well, not her actual birth date, but…” and he tries to reword, rubbing the back of his head. “What day of the year was she born?”

Coran looks at him funny. "Day of the year?"

Shiro slowly starts to put the pieces together, determining that maybe this is more than just a miscommunication. “...you don’t celebrate birthdays, do you?”

Coran's eyes narrow momentarily, but then they light up. Coran raises a finger to the ceiling, seeming to remember something. "Oh yes, I’ve heard that humans celebrate their birthdays on an annual basis as dictated by their solar year. Is this what you were talking about when you mentioned 'birthday?'"

The paladin sighs, nevertheless remaining patient. "Yes, Coran. Do you know Allura's birthday?"

Coran shakes his head vigorously back and forth. “Oh no, no, no, we don't celebrate this birthday thing in Altean culture. We live for much too many years for that kind of nonsense," he explains, with a wave of his hand. "But if anything, there is a great celebration for anyone that passes 500 million ticks, because that is when young adolescents are considered to have reached adulthood.”

Shiro tries to do some mental calculations, converting ticks to seconds, and then seconds to years, but he fails to multiply by 365. So he asks another question instead. “So what was the day in the Altean year when Allura reached 500 million ticks?"

Coran looks at him strangely again. “I don’t know," he replies. "Do the days repeat year after year?”

Befuddled, Shiro explains, "Well, yes. There's twelve months in a year and..." He watches Coran's eyes glaze over as he explains what he starts to realize are very trivial human measurements of time, and so changes course. “So how did you know when Allura was 500 million ticks old?”

This, Coran understands. “Oh!" he replies, as if it were obvious. "When her eye marks showed up, of course!"

Shiro leans forward, thinking that this might be where the answer is. "And do you know when that was?"

"Oh, I'd say about 200 million ticks ago."

"...I see."

It's around now that Shiro realizes if they were to celebrate Allura's birthday, they were going to have to make it happen.

Of course, preparing for a surprise birthday doesn't come as easy as they expect, and after about a month of pushing back "Allura's birthday" because of undue procrastination, the Paladins finally get everything into place.

Honestly, Shiro is surprised the princess still hasn’t noticed their increasingly odd behavior. Keith is terrible at keeping secrets, and Lance drops too many hints. Not to mention Shiro has been excusing himself from more of Allura's furtive make-out sessions than usual, with a soft lie of "needing to train with the rest of the team."

Even Coran smelled something fishy, and if the older Altean was able to figure out that room in the basement was being used for something else aside from "storing Pidge's mini-robots," then surely the princess knew something was going on just under her nose — but the princess didn't seem to catch on, no matter how much Shiro suspected it himself.

Regardless the day finally comes, and everyone unanimously agrees to assign Shiro to the job of getting the princess to the basement where her surprise party is set up because he's "totally in bed with her."

And so here Shiro is, waiting for just the right moment to catch the princess, and as he sees her turning the corner, he preps himself up to tell her the second biggest lie he’s ever told her in his life. (His first biggest lie to her was when he told her he didn't realize that he was in love with her until after she threw him across the room when they were escaping the Galrans — but of course, he was in love with her since day one.)

“Allura!” he calls out to her, sprinting to her. He twists his face into fake fear.

“Yes?” she says, turning around. She’s concerned once she sees his face. “What’s wrong?”

“The...” he starts to say but then upon seeing her intense eyes, he suddenly forgets his original lie. Fuck. “The mice!” he says, stalling a little bit.

“The mice?” Allura says. And then she looks down and concentrates.

Fuck, he forgot she can telepathically communicate with them.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“Platt is vomiting," he blurts suddenly. "I think she might have eaten something bad.”

Allura pulls herself out of her head, furrowing her eyebrows. “Shiro, what are you talking about? The mice report to me that they're fine.”

He supposes he can't back out of his lie now, and so he keeps weaving more questionable details. “No, no," Shiro insists. "I swear Platt isn’t okay. I just spotted Platt lying prone downstairs."

Realizing he's not going to be able to keep this lie undercover for long, he takes her wrist and guides her downstairs with him before she has another chance to try to communicate with the mice.

“Shi-Shiro!” she protests.

He brings her all the way down to the lowermost level of the castle-ship, entering a dark room, without hesitation.

“Shiro, what are you — "

And then suddenly the lights go off, the balloons go flying everywhere, the firecrackers go off, a billion and a half noise blowers go off, and the entire castle-ship turns up in song.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”

She almost hits Shiro as she swings around to defend herself from the confetti and the glitter. “What?! What is —”

Her face turns from confused to alarmed to surprised to concerned to downright angry.

And oh, she is angry. Frustrated and angry and betrayed. She looks to Coran.

“Birthday? What is this birthday thing?” she demands.

Coran gives her a pitiful shrug. “They wanted to celebrate the day of your birth! I tried to tell them that Alteans don’t really do such a thing because we have so many, but they really wanted to do something for you.”

Her mouth opens and closes. Then she turns to Shiro.

“But I don’t understand — why was I never told about this?" she asks him.

He hesitates, not sure if the princess appreciated the entire set-up. "It was a surprise?" he explains. "Have you heard of surprise birthday parties?"

“Never,” she tells him.

“Well, you have now,” Lance suddenly interrupts, placing a flower crown on her head. “Happy birthday, Allura! What are you now, like 700 million ticks or something?”

She blinks. "Well, I —" she starts. "How did you know that?"

"Oh, because Shiro told us!" Pidge replies.

"Come on, Allura!" Lance exclaims. "We've got all sorts of surprises set up for you!"

The princess forces a laugh and nods, letting herself be taken away by the younger Paladins to do whatever birthday things they have planned for her, but not without shooting Shiro a glare.

He apologizes to her later, crawling into her bed.

“Hey,” he says, siding up next to her. “I’m sorry about today."

She turns around and snorts at him. He's surprised to see the smile on her face.

“I was more confused than anything else,” she says, furrowing her eyebrows. "I still don't understand the concept of celebrating a birthday."

He wrinkles his nose. "We're celebrating you," he explains. "That you're here and that we have you in our lives." He kisses her forehead. "That I have you in my life."

She's quiet, so he looks at her for a moment, trying to read her eyes.

"I'm sorry," he apologizes again.

She shakes her head, revealing a smile. She laughs, then taps the tip of his nose with her finger. "No, no this was sweet for all of you to think of me," she clarifies. She hesitates a moment. "I was just surprised that you knew my exact age. I'm... old beyond Earthling comprehension, you know."

He looks her face up and down, from her eyes down to her lips and back up to her eyes. "Well, honestly, you don’t look a tick over 700 million,” he teases.

“Shut up,” she scolds him.

He kisses her and then asks, “Why don't you want me to know your age?”

“Because it's strange,” she admits. “Doesn’t it remind you that we’re aliens to each other? That…we’re kinda not compatible maybe?”

“What are you talking about?” he asks. “I couldn’t have asked for anything else. We were meant for each other. So what if we’re not from the same planet? I couldn’t care less.”

“Well…as long as 700 million ticks don’t bother you.”

He touches his forehead to hers. “They never will," he assures her.

She smiles. "Good," she tells him, looking him up and down. “Well, that being said, I also don’t appreciate not knowing what’s going on in my ship,” she warns, swinging her leg over his waist. “I am the captain of this ship, after all."

He purrs into her neck. “I do rather enjoy when you're in control.”

She laughs, then meets his eyes to gives him a look. “So for this birthday thing..." she murmurs, eyes lowered. "...do I get presents?”

The smile on his lips grow as he feels her hands roam down his body.

"Anything your heart desires, Princess."

#shallura #shiro x allura #shiro #allura #voltron #the princess and the paladin #cheers to this prompt finally being over and done with #i will never see this again #voltron: legendary defender #—shallura

[douchebagbrainwaves]

THERE MUST BE A BETTER SOLUTION

It's as if they were sent back 50 years in a time machine. Instead of getting a prototype out quickly and gradually refining it, you can think instead That's an interesting idea, you can choose your pain: either the short, sharp pain of raising money itself can kill you.1 I didn't notice my model was wrong until I tried to convince users to pay for what we'd built. It would be pretty straightforward to make a list of the most successful startups almost all begin this way. The way I've described it, starting a startup is best seen not as a way to get there is to go through good and come out the other side senses weakness—if they sense you need this deal—they will be very tempted to screw you in the details. The people we funded came from all over the country indeed, the world and afterward they went wherever they could get more funding—which generally meant Silicon Valley. And Wufoo got valuable feedback from it: Linux users complained they used too much Flash, so they must be promising something people want is to take a long view and arguably you can't afford not to, you can expect to have a toplevel to be convenient, and mandatory type declarations are incompatible with a toplevel, then no language that makes type declarations mandatory could be convenient to program in. The fact is, most startups end up nothing like the initial idea is that, in the narrow sense of the word 'is' is. There were interesting things about the architecture of our software, but we can be sure people are going to build things that get used for pornography, or file-sharing, or the expression of unfashionable opinions. One YC startup negotiated terms for a tiny round with an angel, only to receive a 70-page agreement from his lawyer. I was talking recently to a friend who teaches at MIT. Icio.

No matter what you work on, you're type-B procrastinators—the whole company starts to resonate at their frequency. Microcomputers seemed like toys when Apple and Microsoft started working on them. If taste is just personal preference is a good sign when you know that an idea will appeal strongly to a specific group or type of user. Occasionally it's obvious from the beginning when there's a path out of an idea, how do you get good ideas for startups? All the time you spend practicing a talk, you could succeed this way.2 Once a product gets past the stage where it has glaring flaws, you start to get used to it, and learn what they know. 30 would be enough to feel like a little bit in the commitment department, and that will kill you very rapidly. You have to be more interesting than a stretch of flashy but mindlessly repetitive painting of, say, genetics. Now almost every drawing teacher will tell you that taste is just personal preference, then everyone's is already perfect: you like whatever you like, and it frees conscious thought for the hard problems.3 The numbers for me ended up being something like 500 to 800 plans received and read, somewhere between 50 and 100 initial 1 hour meetings held, about 20 companies that I got interested in, about 5 that I got serious about and did a bunch of work, and when you're not paying attention, you keep making these same gestures, but somewhat randomly.

How do you tell whether something is the germ of a giant company, or just a niche product?4 Whereas there appears to be great demand for them. I'm not a very good speaker. But Mark already lived online; to him it seemed natural. My friend Robert learned a lot by writing network software when he was an undergrad. Inductive proofs are wonderfully short. What goes through the kid's head at this point is not trying to paint like Michelangelo. And this team is the right one to do it.5 The people who really care will find what they want.

The person who needs something may not know exactly what they need. The point is, you may end up hooking a very big fish with this bait. There have been startups that ignored this advice and got away with it because no one else is likely to tell you something like you like to do that instead of becoming a serious rival to Silicon Valley? So Hamming's exercise can be generalized to: What's the best thing you can do, but assume the worst about machines and other people.6 This is another one I've been repeating since long before Y Combinator. What does he think great artist means? Countless startups destroyed themselves this way during the Internet bubble.7 To do good work yourself if you're too far removed from one of these centers.8 They want to invest in their portfolio companies. That might seem a stupid thing to ask.9

Notes

Bullshit in the time. The Industrial Revolution, England was already the richest of their hands.

If you can discriminate on the subject today is still hard to say for sure a social network for x. One advantage startups have exits at all. Since they don't have to spend all your time on is a way that makes you much more depends on the server.

Later stage investors won't invest.

The problem is poverty, not just that they violate current startup fashions. This is a case of journalists, someone did, but this disappointment is mostly evidence that the meaning of the deal. If you want to pound that message home. If a conversation in which multiple independent buildings are traditionally seen as temporary; there is something there worth studying as a single VC investment that began with an online service, this is also not a VC recently who said they wanted to.

An accountant might say that a shift in power to founders. But a couple hundred years ago.

People tell the whole story. Maybe it would take forever to raise money after Demo Day pitch, the LPs who invest in a situation where the acquirer wants the employees.

Ed. It shouldn't be that surprising that colleges can't teach students how to allocate research funding moderately well, since 95% of the company is presumably worth more, while they may introduce startups they like to partners at their firm, the editors think the main reason I say the raison d'etre of prep schools is to claim retroactively I said that a their applicants come from going to need to warn readers about, and also what we'd call random facts, like good scientists, motivated less by financial rewards than by you based on revenues of 1.

There is a function of prep schools do, but suburbs are so different from technology companies between them. Do not use ordinary corporate lawyers for this type are also the main effect of low salaries as the first philosophers including Confucius and Socrates resemble their actual opinions.

The wave of the tube of their assets; and not fixing them fast enough, a day job. 65 million. But a lot of people who are younger or more ambitious the utility function for money.

Thanks to Trevor Blackwell, Jessica Livingston, Ben Horowitz, Paul Buchheit, and Chip Coldwell for inviting me to speak.

#automatically generated text #Markov chains #Paul Graham #Python #Patrick Mooney #way #investment #sup #companies #Microcomputers #message #type #philosophers #round #startup #sense #Icio #time #numbers #idea #point

[panic-in-tarir]

One year in review

That’s it! The OH IT’S BEEN ONE YEAR post is here!

The closer my first anniversary was, the more excited I got, and the more thoughts I gathered for one “summary” post. Now that it’s time, suddenly, bam, all of them gone. :’> *wipes sweat*

Recently I had someone asking about my progression and how I managed to get there (???? where? derp). Well, I guess, I could just start telling about my first deeds in GW2, and then see if I can add something.

This might or might not be relevant, but I come from Wakfu, a colorful 2D game with turn-based combat. It’s cool visually, but also has terrible management issues, lack of developer care, one of the worst customer supports ever, list goes on.. I played it since 2012, and year by year, only grew angry, disappointed and hurt. That was like an abusive relationship I couldn’t get out of. I refused to try different genre and engine games. Finally, @aketan​ / @flame-squad​ / Rika got me lowkey interested in GW2 (she was commenting expressively while playing, and I peeked over her shoulder), I decided to try it. And stayed. Migrating to a real-time 3D game wasn’t easy! Yet, it was my lifesaver decision. GW2 has everything that I wish was there in Wakfu. It took me several months, if not a year, to get fully “healed”, to recover from the bad game and start believing that good games exist. When I had to contact GW2 support, I was touched to tears.. Everything and everyone is so nice here.

That wall of text was a foreword! Or explanation why I’m so excited and grateful about every aspect of GW2.

I started without putting too much thought into the char creation, as a result, now I have yet another main whose name is literally foreign language swearing or pun. GG me. After having been completely lost and confused by the controls (I LITERALLY ran backwards and yelled), after having a short but comprehensive lesson from bff, I started derping around on my own. I think I was only guided until lvl 5 or so, then my buddy let me do whatever I want. I come from a sandbox-wannabe game so it didn’t take me forever to get comfortable and set my first goals. Of course, I had a shit ton of questions, which I didn’t hesitate to spam Rika with. It’s cool to have someone ready to explain you the basics and patiently show you things. :D My several first days, or even weeks, were intense. I didn’t rush levels, but was eager to see the world. It was so amazing to me that I was spending 8-10 hours a day, running around, completing maps. I started in Metrica but quickly wandered away to Caledon (”oh! a portal?!”), where I spent a handful of time then.

With such a desire to discover and observe, and after having seen the title you’re awarded for 100% world map completion, I set it as my first ultimate goal. I approached it rather seriously, and had an incredibly fun time, at least until I had only Orr left undiscovered. x’D As a squishy (and slow, and dumb) ele, I was frightened and a bit discouraged by the amount of, well, deaths here. If I recall correctly, I still wore yellows at that time, although I was 80. Rika helped me and accompanied me for a bit. Orr was tough and I legit cried out of anger and frustration when I was alone, but that was the only unpleasant moment in entire year, and only because I wasn’t good at the game yet.

In the meantime, I was leveling my first alt, human engi. Do you actually remember that f2p accounts only allow 2 chars? Later, after buying HoT, I finally got loose.

They say, you always remember the place where you finished your first world map. For me, and oddly enough, for Rika, it was Field of Ruins. We reached the last POI at the same time, and, boy, did it feel great. My first big accomplishment. It dropped like.. Like a norn fart in a moot (c) Jory \o/ I still use the title btw, “been there, done that”. \o/

Then, there was a relatively dull period before buying HoT. I focused on doing my personal story, maxing out my alt and getting into crafting. The latter quickly became addictive to me. It’s so smooth, fun and exciting in GW2. Artificer was my first discipline, and after getting the hang of it, I breezed through 100-500 in a single day’s course.

That’s what the progression of my first 4-5 months looked like! I still was f2p, did only open world content and had one person to play with. I’m my own boss so it’s up to me to decide if I want to spend 30 minutes or 8 hours ingame.

HoT was a blessing in every aspect possible! I never regretted buying it, never regretted taking my time and not buying it earlier though - I needed that f2p scrub time to learn the basics, and to appreciate all the convenience and QoL improvements that come with HoT.

That’s where the real game starts, if I could say that. Core Tyria is by all means amazing, but you can go only this far if your account has those market and mail restrictions.. I used to enjoy playing market in Wakfu (while it was still alive) and I was excited to try it in GW2. When I bought the expansion and got my account fully functional, I got some skins and dyes ahead of all, then proceeded with crafting since I was really addicted to it and excited to max all the disciplines as my medium priority goal.

GW2 is encouraging altoholism! So I found myself leveling a third character (tried revenant and didn’t notice how I got her to level 20-ish and it was too late to delete), then fourth, fifth, then more char slots.. You see my weakness. I quickly realized the perks of having alts: storage, gathering, alternative personal stories, so on. When you’re an altoholic, plus you have yet to finish gearing up your main, plus you can barely hold yourself from leveling another crafting discipline.. RIP GOLD. I never had more than 30-100g at that time period.

Since market and wealth are one of my biggest passions ingame, I learned ways to earn me some coins, one by one. It’s not that hard if you’re a patient gatherer like me. Just run around, chop trees, collect ore and herbs.. I enjoy it so much, maybe it’s grind for someone, but I find it relaxing. Also it brings you gold. \o/ I found a few niche crafts that I could keep making and selling, then got familiar with market flipping, still not doing it like “big daddies” do, I might be too inefficient and lazy at it. But still, I found my own stable sources of income. Not gonna lie, the game just seems to like me and spoils occasionally. I don’t wanna brag, but there was like 4 precursor drops for me, 2 from mystic toilet, 2 practically dropped from the sky. I might be a little luckier than the average player. But that’s well deserved given how much suffering I had in Wakfu. :’D

When we talk about luck, we can’t avoid mentioning gambling. I learned about mystic toilet quite early, but never was a slave to it. Tarrktun has a bit more power over me, but I’ve never lost too much, only gained little by little. Black Lion Keys are the most evil gambling aspect if you ask me, I’ve spent quite a bit of money on those, though sometimes got nice things in exchange. Either gold to gems or gems for real money, I don’t mind spending it on Anet since they very, very well deserve it.

Given my passion, patience and luck, you must think I should be filthy rich by now.. Hah. :’DD Sadly, I’m just as good at spending as I’m at earning! I blew a lot of money on my own “needs” and “wants” and “why not”s, I keep investing into long term sales, I also often buy gifts for my buddies, mostly Rika. Money comes, money goes. GW2efficiency says my account is worth 14k gold currently. Not a bad progress for a year, I suppose.

So.. My biggest interests and playstyle are gold wars, fashion wars, altoholism.. I became quite a lore geek, completed PS, LS2, available LS3 episodes & most of current events, most of HoT? I should finish it but I procrastinate for some reason.

My current achievement number is 7610, mastery rank is 129 iirc. I’m not a casual derp anymore, but still too afraid to fail in front of strangers so I don’t really do dungeons or fractals. I mean I DO, when my bff literally holds my hand and goes there with me, then 3 strangers vs two of us is tad bit less scary. My combat skill, my reflexes and reactions are rather pathetic, even if I got significantly better after HoT and LS3 maps. I must train more, so recently I made a tanky character to practice, I hope to get good enough to clear story mode dungeons and low level fractals alone. Maybe I’m being too hard at myself, but combat skill has practically the biggest influence in this game, so I must git gud, at least acceptable, so I don’t feel ashamed to play with other people and don’t let them down. :’D

I’m a pve trash. Tried WvW and don’t mind coming here again, but not too much. PvP is a big no-no. Just.. Not my thing. Never. Not with my current skill and mindset (people = stress).

I’ve still got a mind-boggling amount of things to do. Personal goals, mere achievements, secrets and mysteries I’m yet to uncover, lore things to read. Maybe I’ll play GW1 one day, if there’s ever a discount sale. \;w;/ I’m super curious about every tiny bit of lore, also want some skins that are exclusive to GW1. That pleasant, sweet feeling that there’s so much interesting things ahead. I will take my time and never grind anything to frustration, for example, I’ve been working on my first leg, Sunrise, on and off and I’ll wait several months more, until I get all the clovers from the monthly chest. I don’t sweat it and just enjoy the game however I see it. Feelsgoodman.

I hope I managed to answer that person’s question, how did I get where I’m currently? Just took my time, learned my own pace and enjoyed every minute I spent online. Love the game, and it will love you back. \o/

#blast from the past #whew that was quite a novel hahahaha #gw2 #guild wars 2

[inktae]

Hi, how are you doing? I hope everything's going well with your finals :). There is a second season of blue exorcist asdhjkl how didn't I know this?? And noragami too? I don't really watch a lot of anime so I'm lowkey excited rn that you like the same ones haha. And yes I like chopin a lot in general but the variations are really nice in their own way ^^. Also have you heard of ólafur arnalds? I discovered him like an hour ago and his music is so beautiful and enthralling! [1]

 Finals are killing me rn and I’m looking forward so much to the semester break, I can’t wait for january to pass already ;_;. I just booked plane tickets to the uk because I’ll finally be able to visit a close friend who moved there a few months ago and I’m soo excited ^^. Also I just talked to my dad and apparently we might visit family in Amsterdam too! Ah I’m so happy rn :)). Also I read all the light we cannot see (I'm starting to feel like a nerd OTL) and unfortunately I didn't enjoy [2]

it at all . Going in I was so sure I was going to love it since it’s being hyped so much and it sounded like something I'd really enjoy, but I’m not sure I’ve ever been so disappointed by a book tbh. (probably very long procrastination fueled rant to follow). Firstly the plot is incredibly thin and the entire story is really predictable and inflated, and tbh sometimes the entire story just felt like a bit of an excuse to showcase as much of the authors [3]

very purple-prosey (is this a word? lol) writing as possible without worrying about any deeper meaning whatsoever. And I heard so much about his style and the way it was described, I was so sure I was going to like it, but unfortunately that wasn't the case either. There are some really beautiful sentences yes, but most of the time it felt like the author was like 'hey let's make this #poetic and just throw in 500 adjectives and half-baked metaphors before literally everything' so quite often[4]

it just felt kinda forced? My main problem was probably the pacing though (and the ending which was… anticlimactic to say the least (and not in a purposefully thought-provoking way but it felt more like he had just written himself in a bit of a corner)). The pacing was soo slow (and I usually really enjoy this!) and it wasn’t in a calm and serene way either but in a let's rush important scenes but sure let's talk about everything else in excruciating detail kind of way [5]

and I never really cared for any of the characters, no matter in how many delicate ways their *uniqueness* (one guy has white hair and it’s mentioned like 400 times) was described. Holy shit this got long! I didn’t know I had so many feelings about this lmao. well anyways I wasn’t really a fan of the book, but tastes differ and I mean almost everyone else seems to love it, so idk maybe you’d like it too. Ok I think I’m done now OTL. I hope you have a nice day! Lots of love ^^ [6] –coffee anon

LOL DON’T WORRY thank you for the long message!! :)

ahah yes - blue exorcist (I almost wrote blue orchids omg) and noragami are also some of my faves, mostly in terms of animation tbh, I can be so exigent with the art of the animation and these two are so well made. (and the characters are amazing as well - after finishing blue exorcist I spent quite a few weeks obsessing over yukio, he was such a fave of mine! and I absolutely adore yato)

YES I LOVE OLAFUR! you’ve probably listened to this one already (I think it’s his most popular) but near light is just so amazing. this one has helped me write a looot. :)

ALSO YOU’RE GOING TO AMSTERDAM *dies* it’s a city that’s definitely on my bucket list, right under tokyo. and even though I already went to london, I missed so many things I found out were there after coming back, so I really want to visit again T_T (besides.. all the merch I could buy LOL when it comes to that kind of stuff spain is really lacking)

also, thank you so much for your review of the light we cannot see, this is very eye opening! hmm, the thing is, I am having a hard time finding books that can help me improve my style. I want to stray away from YA books because I read too much of those when I was younger and they don’t have a style I look up to anymore, especially when it comes to their plots (usually driven by love triangles and werewolves or vampires, and I really want to read something different you know). I was considering the light we cannot see because everyone praises its writing, but now that you mention it, the reviews rarely mention the plot and/or the characters, which probably reflects how overshadowed those are by the author’s focus on the prose, and I really need enthralling plots to get hooked. hmm, I was going to buy it blindly, but now I think I’ll check it online first :)) then again, it could be good practice for me to read it even if the plot is lacking, since I also want to improve my narrative. (not to the point of throwing in 500 adjectives just to make it look pretty ahaha, but maybe I can learn some new vocabulary!)

talking about books, do you have any recommendations? like I said, I really want to read from authors that make me fall in love with both their writing and their story telling. I haven’t found much of that besides murakami. ;;; I am also trying to find books that are space related / futuristic and I found the Unwind series, which is also young adult but it seems to have plenty of good reviews, so I might give it a chance, but I’m still not sure. idk why, but I’m finding it soo hard to find books that I want to read. maybe I am just not looking in the right places ;_; anyway, I’ll probably let you know what I think of ‘all the light we cannot see’ when I give it a chance after my exams :))

#good luck with your finals btw you can do this!! n-n #messages #Anonymous