#my brain is lined in graph paper

[metalheadsforblacklivesmatter]

Hey, love the post you make about obscure disabilities. Could you make/ have you made about dysgraphia?

Sure. This will be my post for disability pride month tomorrow. Which I'm posting now because I don't have the spoons to schedule it for tomorrow.

I hope you don't mind I turn this into a combo one because I have a hard time mentally processing one of these conditions without understanding all three.

(Obligatory I do not have any of these conditions. This is not meant to be a diagnostic tool. Please do your own research. I'm only answering a question that was asked of me and it's really hard for me to explain one of these without explaining all of the similar conditions to differentiate them.)

And I hope that you don't mind my poorer language skills right now I'm recovering from a server sinus headache I've had all day.

Dyslexia vs Dyscalculia vs Dysgraphia (bonus round Dyspraxia)

These issues have like, a 30% comorbidity rate. So if you have one there's a 30% chance you'll have either of the others. People with conditions may be perceived as "slow" but they are not intellectual disabilities (Not that there's nothing wrong with intellectual disabilities. I'm just pointing it out because people will say "you can't have dyslexia. You're so smart.")

But the fact that they're comorbid and often comorbid with autism and adhd causes some misunderstandings around the conditions because people think they have one condition and attribute all of their issues to the one condition with no knowledge that its not just one condition they're expressing.

Dyslexia

Dyslexia is characterized by the limited processing and comprehension of graphic symbols, particularly those regarding language. People with it have poor reading skills, flipping letter sequences and words, and poor handwriting. Although it is a learning disability, it's important to note that dyslexia does not impact a person's intelligence, although they may seem slower due to poor language processing skills. (There's nothing wrong with disabilities that impact intelligence, I just don't want people saying "he can't be dyslexic because he's so smart".)

Many representations of dyslexia often exhibit letters tap dancing across the page, shape shifting, and doing backflips. It's important to note that these are incorrect representations, because it's really hard to give a visual representation of what people with dyslexia experience. However, it's really harmful to express dyslexia in this fashion as it leads to people thinking that they don't have dyslexia when they actually do.

As I understand it, dyslexia is the eyes/ brain being able to flow seamlessly when reading large blocks of text. Ways to combat this is cut out a strip to block off lines when you read them. Use a highlighted strip of paper to highlight lines as you read them.

Fun fact, there's a few fonts that space the letters well enough and differentiate similar letters enough that make it easier to read. Comic Sans font is the most widely accessible accessibility tool for dyslexic people as it's one of the easy to read fonts that on every machine. (These accessibility tools have proven to make everyone read faster, dyslexia or no. But people with dyslexia have found them instrumentalin functioning. )

Another fun fact. Rick Riordan wrote Lightning Thief so that his dyslexic son could have representation in a character that had the same disability as him.

Dyscalculia

Dyscalculia is often called "math dyslexia". People with Dyscalculia have issues with numbers. They have poor math skills, issues interpreting graphs, issues doing basic arithmetic, issues understanding things like place value, issues understanding time especially when it comes to reading an analog clock, and issues seeing patterns. This often causes a high level of anxiety around math. Some reports say these people have issues with directions, remembering locations, and reading maps (though research is inconsistent on that one).

Dysgraphia

Dysgraphia is easy to mix up with dyslexia, which is why I needed to write all these out. Where dyslexia is difficulty reading. Dysgraphia is difficulty writing. Symptoms include difficulty writing words, expressing thoughts in written form, and organizing and processing your thoughts. This can cause issues with social communication for obvious reasons.

These people also may have fine motor perception issues, writing in a straight line, spacing their letters correctly, etc. Especially fine motor skills around writing. They may also have issues with grammar, punctuation, and capitalization.

Bonus Round:

Dyspraxia

This one gets mixed with dyslexia two. Dyspraxia is issues with spacial awareness. They often say they can't tell where their limbs are in space. They may have issues with coordination, walking in a straight line, and balance. It's very hard for me to conceptualize, but people that have it may say that they bang their limbs against things due to poor spacial awareness. Which honestly, relatable. I've slammed me calf into a door before. And my shoulder blade. How? Good question.

These people have issues in social situations because their entire focus will be on their coordination, not making a mess, and not making a fool of themselves, etc. Their issues actually get better when they drink because the stress of sucked situations makes it worse and alcohol loosens them up. (I'm not advocating for drinking, but saying that the issues resolving when your drink validates your dyspraxia, not invalidates it.)

I think a lot of people that know of the condition may think people with low depth perception have dyspraxia. A lot of people have told me they think I have dyspraxia because my lack of depth perception negatively impacts my spacial awareness.

-fae

#disability #disability pride month #disabilties #disability awareness #disability pride #disability awareness month #dyslexia #dyspraxia #dysgraphia #dyscalculia #adhd autism

[em-dash-press]

Drafting Your Creative Time: Your Guide to Planning a Year of Creative Writing

2024 is about to start. You’re going to venture into another year of writing incredible stories, but what will that practically look like? I feel more in charge of my creativity by planning rough writing schedules. Here’s how you can do the same without locking yourself into a too-strict calendar that leaves your writing spirit depleted.

Set One Writing Goal

Twelve months is a lot of time, but anyone can handle a single goal. Make the next year easy on yourself by picking one thing you want to accomplish (and let’s not make it “publish my novel” if you’re just starting the manuscript on January 1, given how it takes roughly 18 months of work after you get an agent) (and that can take a few weeks to a few years, depending on your querying experience!). 

Try picking a manageable writing goal like these:

I will write 10 chapters of my novel.

I will make a collection of 5 short stories I write this year.

I will submit a short story to at least 3 contests this year.

I will publish one new work of fanfiction in the next 12 months.

I will write one short story in a new genre.

Publishing a book can be a long-term goal, but your 2024 goal should be easy to break down into manageable steps you can accomplish by yourself. You’ll be more likely to reach the finish line and work toward another goal.

Establish a Stress-Free Writing Schedule

Creativity comes and goes, but your writing will never get done if you don’t form some kind of schedule. Your upcoming year could look something like this:

I’ll write every Wednesday night between 7-7:30 p.m.

I’ll use voice-to-text to get my story-related thoughts on virtual paper for five minutes every morning before school.

I’ll do freestyle writing for five minutes on Mondays and Saturdays to keep my thoughts flowing, even if I don’t find more time to work on my story that week.

Your schedule should be realistic, which means it shouldn’t stress you out. Make it match your weekly and daily routine. When do you naturally feel most energized? When can you carve out ten minutes for your craft? 

Remember, you can always (and should!) adjust this set schedule as time goes on. Your non-creative schedule most likely won’t look the same on January 1 as it will on December 31.

Save a Few Writing Prompts

You might have a few weeks here or there when you’re juggling life’s responsibilities and can’t get to your WIP. It happens to all of us!

When you’re busy, try answering a writing prompt in three sentences or less. Use your phone, a sticky pad, or whatever’s nearby. You never know if it’ll inspire you later when you’re free to write.

In the meantime, you’ll keep using the creative side of your brain so your writing abilities don’t feel so distant.

Check out these prompt apps if getting online isn’t your thing or takes too much time from your busy schedule!

Find a Writing Community

There are so many ways to build a writing community. Start a tumblr about it (guilty as charged) or join a Facebook group. Find an active Reddit thread about your favorite genre or join a Discord server with writers. 

You don’t even need to start talking to others and making friends if it makes you anxious. Read what people are saying to get inspired by everyone. You’ll naturally join in when you get excited about something they’re discussing and keep creative writing at the front of your mind.

Read Lots of Books

I always feel more connected to my writing when I’m actively reading. Artists of any kind need a source of inspiration to keep their creativity flowing. Keep an actively growing To Be Read list with apps like Story Graph (a Goodreads-type app that isn’t owned by Amazon and gives so much more information about your curated reading history!).

Visit your local library if you don’t have the money for new books all the time (who does?). As you get inspired by what you read, you’ll also pick up skills from authors you admire or note things you don’t want to recreate. Study each story’s structure and character development. You’ll return to your WIPs with renewed passion.

Embrace the Scary Editing Stage

Your first draft is your thoughts and dreams poured out on paper. The editing stage is where you refine and re-write your work until it shines. Set aside specific time for editing after completing a first draft of any story. Even if your editing phase doesn’t take very long, working on line edits and developmental edits will make your work so much better.

It’s also a normal form of frustration for writers, but one that happens no matter where your writing goes (on fanfiction websites, short story contests, a literary agent’s desk, etc.).

Schedule Your Rest

Writing might feel like a natural hobby, but your brain and body still need to rest after periods of intense focus/work. Schedule rest periods into your daily or weekly calendar. It’s time to recharge in whatever ways best suit your body, like:

Sitting outside

Walking in a park

Reading

Sitting in a hot bath

Going to the movies

Sleeping in

Keep in mind that sometimes you’ll need more rest than others. Extend some self-compassion by checking in with your physical and mental energy frequently during the next year. If you take time to rest, you’ll be less likely to burn out creatively.

-----

This next year will be full of growth, challenges, and joys in your writing life. Embrace every second by resting and writing in new ways.

#writeblr #productivity #writing productivity #creative writing #creative writers #writing advice #writing tips #writers of tumblr #writing #writing community #writing help #writing resources #writing inspiration #new years resolutions #creative writing resolutions

[notmusa]

mmmmusaa... do you like to draw on graphed paper for any particular reason? i recently bought some to doodle on because i found it helps already having something on the paper to let loose. plain sketchbook paper is too clean or expensive feeling some days to really do the same.

yaaa, i think it tricks my brain into remembering a sketchbook is a place for working out ideas, loosening up, & making mistakes, not polished/finished works. it also reminds me of doodling in lined notebooks at school, back when i drew a lot more & there was way less imaginary "pressure" to make good art. just let ur mind wander & draw whatever dumb stuff u feel like for fun

i do keep several other sketchbooks for experimenting with different mediums on different types of paper. they get used less often tho bc i am going through a lifelong lazy phase

[teddybeartoji]

mickey i am kissing ur brain so gently i literally just woke up but i saw the bi!toji post ……… 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 REAL & CANON BTW but for some reason the first thought that popped into my head was. uni au….. janitor!toji/professor!reader…………….. hear me out.

toji who just stopped working as an assassin and is trying to get his life together, who just happened to land a job as a janitor at a prestigious university that he takes fairly seriously…. (i just knowww he hates littering students with every fibre of his being. catches them in the act and reaches for his gun out of old habit LMAO) and there’s this nerdy little professor who always arrives at the uni first thing in the morning, without fail, and always gives toji a cheery little greeting when he does. wearing his cozy sweaters and vests and scarves and smiling all bright and sleepy. and for some reason he almost always takes his coffee breaks conveniently close to wherever toji is cleaning… so they can chat a bit….. even though toji usually just listens and grunts every now and then.

and at first toji feels kinda Threatened by this pretty boy bc ???? whyyyy is he interrupting my precious cleaning time. is he trying to supervise me? show off his fancy degrees??? …. reader has the fattest crush on him but toji genuinely doesn’t realize bc he’s wired to always mistrust others :// meanwhile reader is watching him clean internally going what the fuck what the fuckkk why is he wearing a compression shirt it’s literally fucking freezing??? is he teasing me???? does he know?????? they’re both losers actually. big romcom vibes

BUT YEAH i just picture professor!reader being a sleepy but cheery little guy….. who loves loves loves teaching and talking about his subject of choice and toji starts to really enjoy their talks bc reader’s eyes shine soooo brightly when he’s chattering away… all excited and gleaming….. and toji kinda hates teachers but he decides to make an exception this once. maybe starts to initiate conversations of his own every now and then… who knows…………….

OK THAT’S ALL PDHJDDHJF 😭😭 this came to me in a vision and ofc i had to share…. imagine me at a board meeting pointing at my little graphs and powerpoints while u sit in a big ceo chair overlooking the city… pondering janitor!toji and the future of this company…... mickey ur posts genuinely make me fully insane i hope u know that. bi!toji is real and loves you specifically btw <333333 I HOPE U HAVE A LOVELY DAY MWAH :3

ARIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII I NEED TO KISS U RN!!!

LIKE THIS ISN'T OKAY BY ANY MEANS HOW DID YOU COOK THIS UP AND WHY IS IT LITERALLY PERFECT AND ALSO HOW IS IT SO IN LINE WITH WHAT I HAD IN MY HEAD?????????????? HOW???????

OKAY FIRST OF ALL WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT PROFESSOR!READER KIND OF BEING LIKE TAKEDA FROM HAIKYUUUU??????????????? LIKE THAT'S IMMEDIATELY HOW HE POPPED INTO MY HEAD AND NOW I CAN'T STOP IMAGINING HIM LIKE THAT I ALS OCAN'T TAKE OFF THE CAPS LOCK BC I'M GENUINELY SO INVESTED IN THIS FUCKING AU IT'S INSANE

but yeah he's always wearing the comfiest fits just like u said - sweaters, vests, a button-up shirt and a colorful tie sometimes (he was super nervous about wearing the tie at first bc he thought he'd look stupid but he got over it and now he has a rule of wearing a tie at least once a week)(canon). when it's cold he's wearing an oversized coat and an equally big scarf and toji thinks it's very cute i mean what who said that.

another thing just popped into my head when u called him a sleepy guy..... what if it's already like afternoon and all of the students are gone and the professor was supposed to be grading their papers or smth but when toji happens to walk by his class he's just sleeping on the table............... PLSSSS I THINK IT'S SO CUTEE i can see it so clearly in my head the professor's glasses are really weirdly on his face and his mouth is open with a bit of drool spilling out lmao and at first toji just shakes his head like damn this guy is stupid but then he realizes that he's smiling? that his own lips just curved into a small smile all on their own and he's kinda freaked out about it and leaves really fast hasgahsaghshgagsha HE'S A LITTLE AWKWARD SOMETIMES OKAY even big scary teddy bears have their little love moments yk

my immediate thought was that toji would actually be the one to develop the crush first btw................ and he'd be a little like ???? maybe this is his first real male crush? and the reader is just kind of oblivious to it like he thinks that yk toji seems like the straighest guy on the first glance lmao and he thinks that he doesn't have a chance but hehehehehe he's very wrong IDK WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT i wanna know

DON'T GET ME WRONG THOUGH I DO REALLYREALLY LIKE the reader kind of thirsting over him hihihihihi he's so real for that AND I LOVE THE IDEA OF TOJI EVENTUALLY STARTING MORE CONVOS!!!!!! FUCK OFFF HE'S SOO SWEET AAAAAAAAA i love him so much have i said that already

who do you think would take the step to go further though? IN YOUR SCENARIO I MEAN it would obviously take time. a lot of it. bc toji is well... like he is and the professor is nervous and he's kind of afraid to overstep even though he likes him sooooo much... okay i kinda feel like toji would....... and it almost makes the poor professor have a heart attack bc WHAT? hihihihiihi stoppppppppppppp i can see them both in my head soooo clearly and i'm so fucking in love with them they're so cute aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

also got this idea of the professor breaking smth in his class idk like he sits on the chair and one of the legs breaks or smth lmao and he goes on a lookout for smth to fix it with (??????) and he finds toji!!!! and he comes to his rescue, teasing the professor a little bc how the hell did he break the chair you know. and maybe he professor blushes a little..................... IT'S TOJI C'MON EVERYBODY WOULD BLUSH A LITTTLE and then maybe the professor brings him a pastry or something the next day as a thank you and now it's toji who's..... cheeks are looking a little pink?????? and he's grumbling that it's my job. no need to thank me. but the professor just dismissed that immediately and just presses the pastry into his hands and waves him goodbye with a smile. AAAAAAAAAAAH I CAN'TTTT I'M SMILING SO BIG RN MY CHEEKS HURT WHAT IN THE FUCK THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

ARI. MY SWEETEST LITTLE ANGEL. CAN I USE THIS IN THE DRABBLE I STARTED? LIKE I'M GONNA LINK THIS IN THERE TOO. i just started the drabble based on one of the asks i got - toji just smiling while he's listening to his little bf ramble about his day but i'd love to sprinkle this in there. like maybe he taught a class on smth he really likes so he's just so excited about it. excited that the students were loving the topic or whatever. BUT I DO NEED YOUR PERMISSIONN!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU FOR INDULGING ME YOU ALWAYS DO I'M SOOOO GRATEFUL FOR YOUUUUUUUUUU<33333 i can't believe you just cooked it up are you actually gordon ramsay btw? i know you are don't lie to me ari. BI!TOJI LOVES US BOTH THAT'S WHY HIS TITS ARE SO BIG HE'S STORING HIS LOVE FOR US IN THERE!!!!!!!!!!! I HOPE YOU HAD A REALLY REALLLY GOOD DAY MY LOVE MWAH MWAH MWAH<333333333

#WAIT ALSO HAHAHAHAHHA HE WOULD 10000000% HATE WHEN THE KIDS THROW TRASH ON THE GROUND #100000000000000% IT MAKES HIM SO ANGRY LMAO #SO FUNNY #yk the scene where his boat loses when he's talking with shiu and he does the little “tch!” hihhihihhi #this is what he's doing every time he sees somebody throw smth on the ground #PLSSSSSSSS IF U HAVE MORE THOUGHTS PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEE TELL ME #PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE #this au feels very close to my heart #makes me feel very warm #very important #sighhhhhhhhhhh #thank u #love u #ari <3 #mickey can't stop thinking #toji #friends!!

[raccoonfallsharder]

i like to imagine that if one were to give Rocket a sudoku or crosswords puzzle, he can fill them all out at an unbelievable rate. like, you'd introduce him to the concept of sudoku, how each row and each column and each 3×3 grid should have nine distinct and non-repeating numerical digits–

but you haven't finished explaining the rules and Rocket's already filling out the empty boxes with his pencil like ticking off items on a laundry list. not a minute later, it's solved. he then gets confused at your jaw dropping while showing you the filled-out paper puzzle.

"what? you're- you just, fill out the thing with numbers, right? what's so surprising?"

i love this! im sorry i didn’t see this ask sooner but YES. thank you so much for this PERFECT mental image lol. i am actually working on a oneshot that’s not about this EXACTLY but is about rocket’s brain in relation to some of these things lol. the way he sees shit.

sudoku, i think, is easy for him. you explain the rules once and he just looks at the grid and he knows where everything goes. it’s like looking at a bomb or a gun. all the pieces have a home — it only takes one glance with soft eyes to see where each thing fits.

word searches, too. once he knows what a word is supposed to look like, he can take in a box of letters with that same glance and be like — oh, there’s fifteen words. sometimes he finds words that aren’t even intentionally included.

the trick with both these puzzles is that rocket does not get caught up in the sequence of things. he doesn’t go line-by-line or letter-by-letter. he has a more holistic way of understanding things — a big-picture kind of guy. looks at them and says “this is where the thing fits.”

now, crossword puzzles? those i’m less sure of. i think rocket would be the type to be annoyed by “bad clues.” his vocabulistics ain’t always standard, so to speak, and i bet he sometimes makes up words. plus, having to remember how they’re supposed to be spelled? that’s a problem. sometimes the clue will be like “more yellow than blue; a French liqueur” and instead of writing in “chartreuse” rocket is like “greeeeeeen” because why the fuck not, this game is stupid. he finishes in record time but when you look at it, most of the answers are like… only sorta-conceptually-correct? and usually with creative spellings? occasionally he’ll throw in a cluster of letters in kree?

“so i can see you answered this column with crow but you used a character i don’t recognize for the w and it’s overlapping with the g in lasagna. and uhm neither of those are technically right.”

“yeah in shi’ar that letter makes a sound like wuh or guh. little further back in the throat though.”

“uh huh. but this is, uhm, a US-english crossword.”

“so?”

“…good talk.”

now maybe when he’s a little older, and the Star Kids have grown up and have Star Kids of their own, and Old Man Rocket is sitting outside a cantina on Knowhere making origami versions of cosmo for them — maybe in between he pulls out the giant book of puzzles pete sent him for christmas last year. adjusts his reading glasses and strokes a claw over his grizzled whiskers. the kids come up and ask him what he’s working on today and he shows them and teaches them how to do each one.

“this one you can’t repeat any numbers.”

“that seems hard.”

“nah, it’ll be easy for you. you’re almost as much of a genius as me. now, this one you gotta find these words in this graph.”

“okay. i think i like this better. what about that one?”

“ah, i used to hate those ones but now they’re my favorite.”

“yeah?”

“yeah. for these ones, you just make shit up, and you bend all the rules till your answer works.”

#rfh asks #hyperjorts #rocket raccoon headcanons #rfh headcanons #asks are my favorites #rocket raccoon #rfh fluff

[sissytobitch10seconds]

Seventeen Years

Fandom: The Umbrella Academy Summary: Five finds something in the back of his closet. Warnings: Canon trauma and PTSD Word Count: 1,014 Ship(s): Five Hargreeves & The Umbrella Academy

Archive link!

A/N: So I got this off of a tumblr post I saw from @frozenwafflesagain and she very graciously allowed me to write a fanfiction about it! I just got this idea of Five in my head and then it wouldn't leave me alone. I hope that you all enjoy this little drabble and please remember, like all these fics, there's no editing! Thank you all for reading. Stay sissy and bitchy everyone <3

Five was sticky with blood as he stomped into his bedroom. He was pissed that he had to change again after trying so hard to just get what he needed figured out done so he could move onto the next step of his self-assigned plan. He didn’t want the Commission sticking their nose where it didn’t belong and yet they just couldn’t seem to help themselves.

He rucked off the vest and tossed in vaguely in the direction of his hamper as he made his way over to the wardrobe. He threw open the doors so that he could get another one of the infernal uniforms that he had had to wear now because it was the only thing he could find that would fit him. They were still hanging there like they had been a few hours prior, pressed and perfectly stitched by the robotic hand of their mother.

He grabbed one of them from the hanger, yanking it forward with the kind of petulant attitude that could only be created by an adolescent body and brain that was pumped full of hormones it didn’t understand yet. The anger that boiled inside of him was almost indescribable as he realized that he was yanking without it coming anywhere because it was stuck.

He threw the hanger down onto the ground and then dug into the back of his wardrobe to figure out what it was that was preventing him to get ready for his mission this time. He paused when he caught sight of the first shimmery piece of paper though, his hand fluttering in the air.

Five reached down and carefully picked up the item that the pantleg had been stuck on, settling back on his haunches. He lowered the box down into his lap as he processed what it was.

The wrapping paper was folded with perfect creases and the ribbon was still curled, though he could see where the scissors had caught on an uneven polymer. The little tag hanging off of the center where the ribbon met together underneath a bow said: To 5, From 2

This was purchased from before Diego had chosen, he realized as the air was stollen from his lungs. This was the present that he was supposed to get when they turned fourteen, the first October that he had spent in the apocalypse. 

He collapsed on the baseboard of his wardrobe, pushing some of his shoes aside in the process so that he could fit. His fingers slipped underneath the tape that held the wrapping paper together, which was holding only because it had been shut out from the outside world for nearly seventeen years.

Inside was a plain looking book. When Five flipped it open, he saw that it was full of high quality graph paper that was all completely unmarked. The bottom even held a couple of lines in a square where notes about the day the equations were made and what they were could be written.

He turned around so that he was looking back into his wardrobe and noticed several more presents laid out. There were far more than there should have been for just the one year that he had been gone, but they were all wrapped with the signature traits that his siblings always wrapped things with and untouched.

He pulled them all out of the stack that they had been left in and tore them all open one by one. His arms couldn’t move fast enough as he reached for each new box and bag.

He didn’t notice the way that the pads of his fingers hurt from prying open taped shut cardboard boxes or running his fingers over the wrapping ribbon to get them off when he couldn’t figure out where they had been taped down. He didn’t notice the way that sobs forced their way out of his throat and into the open air of his ever unchanging bedroom with each gift that he pulled out and opened. He didn’t notice the way that tears streaked down his face and stained the front of a stuffed bear holding a knife or the front of a book by his favorite philosopher.

By the time that he finished opening each of the gifts that he had been squirreled away in the back of his closet, he had a mountain of wrapping paper, bows, ribbons, and tissue paper next to him along with an assortment of gifts to go along with them. There was a good deal of nice notebooks, ranging from the graph paper one he had opened from Diego to a set of six spiral bound ones in each of the siblings’ favorite colors. There was a handful of stuffed animals that were all strange enough that Five would have found them amusing enough to keep around. There was a set of beautiful fountain pens, as well as a thick block of chalk that he could use on his walls. He also had several books full of his favorite type of stories and studies, something that his siblings all knew he would enjoy.

They had intended to give him these gifts when he came back. They had been counting on the fact that he was still out there somewhere, waiting to make a big entrance and prove their father wrong. They had wanted him back every single birthday that they had lived at the house. That much he knew without reading the books. The existence of the books in general was enough to strip him of all the weariness that the apocalypse had caused him to gain, to make him feel rubbed raw. 

He loved his siblings more than the entire world. He had dedicated his entire life to getting back to them so that he could save them, after all. They had all seemed so apathetic and wary towards him when he came back that he had resigned himself to doing it without their help or support. After finding this cache of love and loyalty, though, one thing was perfectly clear.

They had missed him.

#fanfiction #fanfic #writing #ao3 #archive of our own #tua #the umbrella academy #five hargreeves #number five #the boy #tua fanfiction #the umbrella academy fanfiction #five hargreeves angst #tua s1 #five hargreeves whump #short #oneshot

[asgoodeasgold]

Bob and Barry are brainstorming a distribution strategy for The Godfather. But Barry is a risk averse bean counter so Bob wants his amazing business brain to "go off the edge of the graph paper and think outside the box." Barry might have an idea at last.

Wow wow wow, what was that?

Nothing, it's crazy.

Crazy's good, I like crazy.

It's never been done before.

But now I am tingling with anticipation. I'm practically erect!

It's too risky.

Nothing good ever came from playing it safe. Come on Barry, pitch it!

One of the funniest quotes of The Offer, Matthew delivers it with so much relish (like all his lines). Here with sound, just because, yeah, we want to hear Matthew say it 😁.

🔊 Sound on

GIFs

Portraits

📷 Paramount+ The Offer (2022) ep10 my edits/gifs

#matthew goode #matthewgoode #colin hanks #paramount plus the offer #robert evans

[rahleeyah]

I just reblogged that post while I was in the middle of writing this one, and i just feel very strongly that the two are connected.

When I was taking classes to learn how to do my job, one of the things we did was we actually drew maps using a surveyor's description of the property. A surveyor will chart the direction of each line (ex: North 30 degrees, 20 minutes 15 seconds west, 15 feet) using his fancy equipment. In the 21st century you can just put that text into a computer and it'll draw it for you, easy peasy. But my teacher made us break out the protractors and rulers and pencils and graph paper and actually draw it. The drawing skill itself is not necessary to the work; the computer does it. This is standard; no one, not even the surveyors, is doing it with a pencil anymore.

But

Doing it by hand is a useful teaching tool, bc it demonstrates what those words mean. It teaches you what happens when you change a degree, a second, a minute. It's extremely helpful bc sometimes there's an error in a property description - a typo, or a handwritten and barely legible word - and we need, sometimes, to know how to correct it. It's easier to find out what the correct call is if you know how the calls work, what the angles look like, how to manipulate them. It teaches us how to read the descriptions, instead of just pulling out numbers; I just read a description that started with three calls to identify the starting point, and then began the property description. If I was just lifting calls, not reading the text, my map would've been all fucked up. It also instead of saying "600 feet" said "300 feet, across an easement, an additional 300 feet." If I was just looking at numbers I might have stopped at the first 300, and my line would've been too short.

You have to read all the words, and know what they mean, and how they connect to each other. I'll never have to draw another map by hand, but learning how to do that helped me develop the skills I need to better understand my actual job. The brain is a muscle, and needs to be exercised in a variety of ways to be healthy and functional. It's not enough to know the answer; you do, actually, need to know how to get there.

[copperbadge]

hey sam! i don't want to dump a research question on you, but just in case this is your remit - do you have any apps or browser extensions or similar for adhd and studying? i know about screen tinting and white noise, but if there's anything out there (paid or not) that you recommend, please wax lyrical! i'm collecting a doc of links for study tools beyond pomodoro style apps!

Man, screen tinting and white noise is already well out ahead of me, Anon :D I never did either of those while studying. I can't deal with screen tinting, but I did eventually start using ASMR videos as white noise when I was in my thirties, when I was working. Lo-fi beat music (often designated FOR studying on youtube!) often helps. Other than that I'm afraid I don't have any tools to link to -- no apps, no programs, no sites. I simply don't use any for learning/studying. I have a lot of tools but they're for managing personal life and very finely-tuned to me, so it's stuff like using google sheets to keep my calendar, and using Tasks to manage my chores. It's not to say you can't or shouldn't use apps and extensions, it's just not something that existed when I was in college and not something I make use of now.

My work, while very focus-intensive and intellectual, and involving synthesizing a lot of data, is also very temporary -- the data arrives in my brain, is put to use, and then goes immediately back out again. I've actually trained myself to have no long-term memory for some things, which is probably a bad thing, but every job I've had since 2008 has involved remembering very specific data for somewhere between five minutes (answering phones, remembering names) and two days (building a profile of a donor).

My study techniques when I was in school were less about environment and more about structure -- how I built my lecture notes and how I transferred them to a method for study.

In class, I found it helpful to take notes on blank paper, unlined, so that I could draw pictures and diagrams and structure my notes in a less linear fashion than lined paper would have encouraged. I should dig some out and take some photos sometime. So I had this artist's 8x11 pad of paper with diagrams and outlines and paragraphs all over the place. (I also tried graph paper but didn't like that, too much visual interference.)

I would start reviewing my notes for the eventual exam pretty soon after taking them -- about a month after any given lecture I'd go back to my notes and start review, which sounds a little insane, but was for me super helpful. I would get a deck of 3x5 cards and start moving what I thought were the vital points from those month-old notes over to the 3x5 cards. I didn't use them as flashcards (except for Latin class), I just put notes on various cards when they seemed to go together, and I'd carry the cards around with me and take them out and read them over. It made them very portable! And it meant that I could study in small chunks across a long stretch of time, which probably was very ADHD-compatible because it meant I saw everything a lot and it became "background noise" in the sense that I retained it.

I did kind of have the classic "gifted child" habit of not studying much because I rarely needed to, and for me that fortunately did carry over into college and grad school. With a few exceptions, I didn't have to study much for my exams, and the index cards covered what I needed. The struggle that I had was writing papers -- the classic ADHD "can't get started, hyperfocus once I do". I did eventually figure out the pattern, and so what I'd do was just block out the weekend before the paper was due (often I set the due dates ahead of the real ones in my calendar) and sit down and do the whole-ass paper across about 18 hours. If I knew the time was blocked out for it ahead of time, then that would propel me into actually getting started, and I'd bang the thing out.

So yeah, a lot of my study techniques for living with ADHD, not that I knew I was, came down to stretching studying way out over several weeks to months, and compressing paper-writing into weekends.

But also like...IDK man, cut yourself a lot of slack, I was studying and writing papers before smartphones existed, before my undergrad campus had wifi. If I wanted to check my email, because I didn't have a computer freshman year, I had to go to the computer lab across campus. It made research harder, of course, but it stripped me of a lot of opportunities to goof off. And because my brain was never trained to expect instant digital gratification, I never had the urge to put my notes down and check my smartphone.

So, maybe there's that, too -- if you find that while studying you get distracted a whole bunch, it may be useful to do some digital "hygiene" -- train yourself to go stretches without checking your phone or your browser, starting small and moving up to five, ten, fifteen, sixty minutes. I can't say that will help everyone or even be possible for everyone, but I think it's something to try.

Readers with ADHD (including self-diagnosis), feel free to chime in with the ADHD-centric study tools you use! I'd like to ask that neurotypical people not share their techniques here, only because people with ADHD tend to get a lot of well-meaning advice that is unfortunately not super applicable to the neurodiverse, which can be really frustrating and depressing. And remember to comment or reblog, as I don't repost asks sent in response to other asks. Thanks everyone!

#sam has adhd #studying with adhd #neurodiverse education

[keydekyie]

Any advice you might have for others who wanna publish but can’t seem to get their plots in order?

This turned into a lot o.o; sorry!

lol I'm not maybe the best to ask since it did take me more than 6 years to write a sequel to book I, but my advice would be to talk it through to someone else. Like verbally. Or maybe even to yourself! Explaining the plot (or something else important to the overarching story, like themes, motifs, or character arcs) can help me recognize things to work on. I talk to my partner a LOT!

Maybe the most important thing is to get things out of your head and onto paper (or a computer screen, as the case may be) so that you aren't trying to hold a lot of stuff in your brain that you don't need to be holding. Leaves room for the ideas and better organization. I'll expound on how I do that below.

I also like to zoom in and out of the story to help me keep perspective. When I feel like I need a closer emotional connection to it, I get real granular and write some dialogue, a dramatic scene or internal thoughts, or a description of some visceral physical thing, or maybe sketch some expressions or scene ideas. Might use it, might not. If I like something a lot, it may help me to know I need to move the story in that direction. When I feel too bogged down by stuff or directionless, I zoom waaaay out and write plot outlines or emotional arcs.

There are a few anchoring pieces that I build the story around. I take care not to forget them.

And of course I keep an outline of the story going, but I think it's important to keep things flexible. Why get hung up on putting things in a certain order or doing it a certain way when maybe it's better a completely different way? I've moved huge chunks of story all over the place. If it makes the story flow better or gives a scene a better emotional impact, then I do that! No rules, babey!

I think the thing that's hardest for me with this way of writing is not being able to share things as I write them, since I don't commit to anything. It makes it hard to stay motivated, because I'm not getting constant feedback and encouragement from people, but it makes the story easier to mold and form because I don't have to fit things to whatever I've already shared. If I write a big long chapter and two months later I want to completely scrap it in favor of something else, it's fine. There's no restrictions.

Oh btw my outlines are pretty loose and silly. I have a lot of stuff like this in them:

I also like to write out the various ideas I have to resolve conflicts so I can play around with them. I don't like to choose the easiest, cleanest options, I like to pick the options that balance sense with potential drama.

Example for the fight at the Motylek altar in book II chapter 9:

[MAJOR spoilers for book II below]

One other thing I found helps a lot is to have an exhaustive list of characters with their physical descriptions, ages, jobs, families, locations, basic personalities, and relevant beliefs in an easy to read format. I don't use all the characters I come up with, but it gives me things to springboard off of and helps me stay consistent. I made up and grouped dozens of Motylek villagers that I didn't end up using, but I had them ready just in case.

I've also found that drawing out the story in various visual forms helps me. For book II I drew all over a map where the characters were physically going and when.

[MAJOR spoilers for book II below]

I also like making visual aids for other aspects of the story. Below is a chart I made to figure out Ruyak and Kaelin's growing relationship in book II with its ups and downs. It roughly graphs Kaelin's confidence in Ruyak over time (it's not to scale, it's just based on significant factoring plot points)

This is just half the graph since the other half is book III stuff. You can see there are two horizontal lines I use for reference, the lower one is where Kaelin starts at the beginning of book II, the higher one is uh... something significant that happens later lol. You can see Kaelin's confidence actually started out higher before the start of book II and went down until Loske. This chart helps me keep track of where she's at while I'm writing so I can keep her behavior consistent even though I jump around a lot while I'm writing.

A thing of note: none of this stuff is set in stone when I make it! I changed things many times as I wrote, and added and removed things willy nilly.

I don't know if any of this is helpful or not! But it's what helps me, so... y'know.

#ask #herebegiants #tmatb #tmatb ii #advice

[lifewithchronicpain]

My sister got me this really cute cat notebook for my birthday. It's in a box with a cat ruler and little decorations. She didn't open it, because it was wrapped in plastic. She had no idea the notebook has vertical lines because it's Chinese. (Thanks to my anime days I can usually tell what Asian languages in written form are which)

Still, it has other sections, some no lines, some graph paper lines. I'm thinking about using the notebook to write ideas for this fantasy world I have. Graph paper for maps, blank pages for detailed notes, vertical lines section for columned type notes and thoughts. Like listing characters and their trait to compare to others and have a well rounded group. I'll figure it all out as I go.

I have this problem where putting ideas from brain to computer encounters the executive dysfunction of turning on the laptop, getting the word doc open, and then staring at a screen forgetting every thought I had.

I never could get into the habit of using my phone for to do lists and such and embraced mini notebooks. So maybe the cute little notebook can be my bridge from brain to computer.

I've had this nugget of a book idea that's been growing in my head. If I have any hope of actually writing a book like I always dreamed I have to do something.

[tinyhousepanther]

Todays I-am-very-high-and-have-recently-rejoined-tumblr-because-I’ve-realized-I-need-more-social-interaction-but-tumblr-is-all-I’ve-got-the-energy-for thought is

… drum roll….

the most personal, soul exposing thing I think I could ever do, would be to let some one go through my ao3 bookmarks, even the private ones…. Like the amount of #asexual ♠️ 🐉🌌who kinda likes monsterfucking vibes but is also a depressed millennial who was into Harry Potter and anime and tumblr of yore. Yeesh, how cringe and vulnerable that would be.

Because I like to write when very high and used to write poetry as a moody teen. A good old internet rant into the void. This will get long and old school text formatting like the book House of Leaves is a thing I really love so weird punctuation and spacing ahead.

Also the recursive footnotes in the bartimaeus series

Also, also recently returned to tumblr… lured like a siren into this hell scape of super niche fandoms…. I blame @strange-aeons for making me nostalgic for this place.

On that note. I am actually editing this but mostly because my brain wanted to add things as I read this over for typos because cringe.

Nostalgia leads to reminiscing. I think it was @blackkatmagic who said in a note, that like some niche pairing of fandom like a ship no one asked for but one person dreamed of and a handful of other people liked, is like being in a little boat with them.

(And I had to go find that post so here it is)

And I really like that idea and I like writing stream of consciousness rants when high and also graphs, like data visualization, because I’m an engineer. So a nerd for Venn diagrams that are cool. Like can I make a web diagram bubble graph combo with bubble size for intensity of interest and lines to show how one community spawned an interest in another community? Maybe throw in a color scale for vibes? Like who are the landmarks I use to remember my internet past. Is this what mark zuckerburg is aiming to make for all of us? Can someone build this digital map of my psyche?

Let’s start listing citations to make this glorious journal paper of a post. Giving @strange-aeons or @danielhowell vibes but also @somemorenews and also @scishow and @fishingboatprocceeds energy.

This is like just feeling the need to give a good old trying to describe a very specific mood rant that live journal used to be for.….

Those vibes somehow. Also of course I listen to a lot of podcasts. Like @tanispodcast or @welcometonightvaletranscripts

Who is in this very niche intersection? How narrow of an audience am I?

Or ,

am I yearning for early days Facebook where you just liked a bunch of shitty pages that were just topics. Like quizilla was a window of my internet childhood/preteen (that’s a lie Neopets was first…….)

Which reminds me to also include @dilfosaur and @drawfee. Why do I love the sonic butthole saga so? Is Todd from Mario made manifest into the universe like a tulpa? Am I getting to last podcast on the left now? Do we need to get a net for me??? 🗑️ trap me under a wastebasket like a cat?

God I feel like I’m trying to write a phd thesis on my personality as described via citations of tumblr blogs and other early internet social media. Can I put footnotes in a tumblr post? No. Does my probably autistic ass want them so I can make a hyper detailed thing fully describes a hyper focus moment? Yes. Can I make a whole power point of just internet citations? Yes. Do I have the energy? No.

Should

Be narrating this? I wish, would be interesting if someone I’m citing replies or interacts with this.

Not to brag, but hey I actually did write a phd thesis and some one said it was good enough to give me a fancy piece of paper. I am doctor. Why am I still sad then? Oh, that’s mental illness right. Another citation for a mood elyse meyers

Is this stream of consciousness prose that I am writing while very high and curled in a blanket on my couch while having been overcome by emotion from a fanfic I was reading about a super random cross over of two media from my childhood? Then yes this is me. I am a garbage gremlin of a person who is shockingly successful in life despite my very fun depression and health issues who has way too many parasocial relationships in proportion to real world actual humans I see and interact with on a daily basis.

Is it not the human experience to try and communicate who we are to the world? The innate desire to be seen and known?

Or is that way to high brow for me just wanting to list a bunch of things I like so when I’m having a bad day I can come to this post and just be like…. Oh yeah I did like that one thing.

Like that one video by Drew/Danny/Kurtis that somehow always makes me laugh. Like that friend I had who I could also make laugh by playing the look at this graph vine? 📊. Yes like that. So this my reminder that hey stuff is good and joyful and cringe sometimes, so on the bad days go look at this stuff. I feel @danielhowell has thoughts on this.

That’s it. I should go to sleep. It’s midnight and I have work tomorrow and my cat is glaring at me because we are not snuggling yet.

P.S.

Tumblr really is just MySpace but somehow worse? Yet it’s what we have.

And really the porn had never left. What were they thinking they could do/are doing about it? Like hello tumblrlive makes this app so nsfw to scroll at work when I’ve got time to kill. But also sometimes I want to look at art someone has posted and I’ve got a notification.

#cat #rant #ramble #stream of consciousness #feeling parasocial #elder millennial #or eldritch? #it is spooky season #I saw a tree with red leaves today #spoopy #has arrived #space ace #dead on main

[shezasag]

thank god we're moving into math that actually makes sense to me!!!!! (percentages) fuck algebra and graphing!!!!!!!!

my brain just....struggles with algebra tracing back to 4th grade when i got switched into gifted math courses halfway thru the school year & they kept telling me to solve for x but never gave explanations as to what that means or the basics of algebra no matter how frequently i asked for help & like....sure conceptually i understand algebra now but my brain short-circuits and cannot hold information relating to it for long

also my math prof asked me 2 separate times to use graph paper and rulers for graphing and i had to explain to him that i am in fact using graph paper and a straight edge but my essential tremor makes it impossible to draw straight lines no matter what tools i use and thankfully he was just like "thank you for the clarification" and didn't tell me to figure it out lmao

#i still got an 87% on the 1st test tho so i'm happy w/ that #and the mistakes i made were me overcomplicating algebra because of aforementioned short-circuiting brain

[b-courageous1010]

Hi!! Do you have any recommendations for where to get stationary? I’m looking into notebooks specifically but I’ll take a look at anything.

You really have inspired me on leveling up and take a more aggressive approach into my studies. I wish you success in your future endeavors and thanks so much for sharing your journey.

Hi!!! Thank you so much for the kind words and I wish you the same 🤗

Right now my favorite stationary spots are:

Cloth and paper

It’s a good one stop shop. They sell everything from planners, sticky notes, notepads and things of that nature. I have 2 of their notebooks and I would highly recommend you check them out. The quality of the paper products especially notebooks are amazing, I highly recommend.

My favs in terms of notebooks

Small Spiral Graph Notebook - I use this as a brain dump it’s pretty small but the paper is durable and smooth and I carry it with me everywhere

Task sticky notes - my best friend put me on to these sticky notes. sometimes I’ll write an important list and stick it in my notebook and I have a page in my notebook just for storing sticky notes.

I also have an executive notebook that allows you to date each page which I use for meeting and lecture notes.

Amazon

SUNEE Graph Paper Notebook - B5

You know you can find just about anything on Amazon. This is a pretty inexpensive option where you don’t have to sacrifice quality for quantity.

The paper is durable and doesn’t bleed unless you’re EXTREMELY heavy handed. I use these for note taking and I love them they so spacious!

Moleskin

You can’t go wrong with a moleskin. They can get very pricey but the durability and the quality of paper keeps me hooked. Sometimes I’ll go with a LEUCHTTURM1917 if it’s cheaper than the moleskin. It’s virtually the same concept just a different brand. I usually use these options as bullet journals to keep up with tasks and homework assignments.

Target

Target is really building their stationary inventory. I’m always in target browsing the stationary aisle. Their stationary line day designer has great stationary options and they have all kinds of notebooks and planners.

I hope this helps 😊

#recommendation #b’s asks #soft black girls #level up diary

[cephalad-art]

I've been working on this drawing of Jason from @perseusjackson-jasongrace's fic, i'd like to get lost in love for a few days. Ever since I read it I keep thinking about Jason getting ready for the party and wearing green glitter and feeling so sexy. I just have the word, "Decadent" rolling through my brain all the time so I wanted to try an capture a bit of the beauty.

I'm also not sure if it came out well, but the silver is sparkly so in real life it is reflective of the light, which I feel kind of encapsulates how Jason was feeling that night.

Hope you like it!

[Image ID: A graph paper page with a scratchy drawing of Jason's head. The drawing is very geometrical and angular. Outlines are done in black pen. Jason has chin-length, lined brown and yellow hair, yellow and gold glasses, and purple, dangling earrings. He is wearing a small smile slightly upturned on one side. Around Jason's head is a thick purple line, then very sketchy, sparkly silver lines that are thicker closer to his head and thinner farther away. In cursive underneath it says, "Decadent", then in the bottom right corner is a purple "Cephalad" artist tag. End ID]

#jason grace #pjo/hoo #i'm learning how to art haha

[squareofshape]

not in a bad way or anything but i do kinda credit the nanowrimo website for my ongoing obsession with data visualization. the way i feel different things based on which graph i'm looking at (total wordcount vs daily wordcount) and how it's represented (line graph vs bar graph). the way a tiny bit of information can paint a vivid picture of my life during one month out of each of the past 10 years--the way a dip in a squiggly line can remind me of one harrowing week in college when all my classes had exams and papers due at once, and a jagged uphill bump can bring on the memory of frantically writing, glasses off and eyes closed for maximum typing efficiency, in the middle of my childhood bedroom on thanksgiving break. maybe i've just got stories on the brain this month but there is something beautiful about these wordless tales ensconced in shape and design.

#yes i am procrastinating my writing why do you ask #oof it's getting late i gotta get going #nanowrimo #square