#new year goals hurray

[lululawrence]

It’s November, and around my house that means I’m getting into gear with all of my Holiday and Winter Cards! This time of year is always rough for me, but one thing that always makes me happy are Christmas and Winter cards. This is my 9th year doing this, which is hard to believe, but I’m crazy excited to be able to continue the tradition this year, and I'm doing so with something new!

The cards are in the process of being made entirely by me, as always, but this year I'm also trying my hand at watercolors so every card will be unique with a bit of art that is hopefully not horrible adorning the front hehe

I'm still making them, but the rainbow trees in the banner are a preview of the art that will be featured on most of the cards and then I will add my personalized messages and send them filled with all of my love and good vibes! I can't do that without some important information from YOU though! So...

WANT A CARD? HURRAY! Here's how it works.

As stated above, I'm still working on the cards and they might not be sent out in time for Christmas, but they will all be mailed, I promise! haha

Through the rest of the month of November and maybe a little into December, I’ll gather addresses and finish the cards so I can start writing out the cards ASAP. Life happens, so the cards might not all make it to you before the new year, but I’m going to try my best to make it happen! Even if my goal of mailing them in early December doesn’t happen, you’ll definitely get a card at some point if you claim one.

HERE’S WHAT I NEED FROM YOU.

I’ll be collecting addresses using this google form. It’s pretty straight forward, but on the form I will be asking for:

Your address (I will mail them internationally). PLEASE write it out exactly as you would on an envelope, line breaks and all! I’ve had some cards get returned to me in the past because I guessed where the line breaks should be, and I guessed incorrectly, so to avoid that I’d love it if you could tell me where the line breaks are

The name you want me to use for the address as well as the name you would like me to write inside the card. For many, the name will be the same, but for others, it will be different, so to account for that, I’ll have an option for both.

Your tumblr URL. This is just so I can reach out to you if there are any issues.

Your preference in card. I will mostly be making rainbow pride trees affixed to Christmas or winter themed paper, but in case you need your cards to be holiday and rainbow free, I am going to be attempting some winter tree cards as well.

And that’s it! There aren’t any other stipulations or requirements. We don’t need to be mutuals, you don’t even need to be following me or in the fandom tbh. You just need to want a homemade card from me to hopefully bring you some cheer!

Even if you aren’t interested in a card for yourself, please reblog this post and help me spread the word. I would greatly appreciate it!

Thank you, and Happy November!

#christmas cards #holiday cards #winter cards #my art #that's weird to have a tag for and maybe i shouldn't do it but i'm kinda proud of myself for using watercolors and it not going to shit #big thanks to emmu for that btw #this post is two weeks later than i usually get it up but that's how it goes fronds #i'm still trying my best to get these out to people in december!! #rainbows #rainbow art

[lqtraintracks]

AO3 Wrapped 2023

Fics posted: 23

Pairings Written: Drarry (13); Sirry (1); Harry/Teddy (3); Tedrarry (1, written with the amazing @nv-md ); Ginsy (1); Jeddy (1): Fred/George (1); Hagrid/multiple people (1); Damen/Laurent (1)

Most Kudos: What a Fucking Git ran away with it. :D Fake hating tag for the win! Thanks for that priceless gift @goldenbi

Word count of fics posted: 105,551 

Total word count written: Just over 150,000! Hurray! 

My favourite fic I wrote this year: Oof. Probably a tie between my Wireless, Take You Home, and my Erised, TBA on January 5th. ;) <3 

I also finished my original novel this year, which has been far and away the highlight for me. I love my own characters so much, and when I let the novel sit for a while between reads, I miss them with an actual ache in me. I’m proud of myself for putting so much work into it and writing it through to the end, and I’m going to do my best to see that, one way or another, it makes its way out into the world in 2024! 

Goals for the coming year: Query an agent and get this novel published! But also, I want to write more short fics again, go bonkers with the pairings. The prompts you guys have given me have started me out on a great note there, so thank you! I’d love to do a couple/few fests again as well (I do love the community aspect, and deadlines are my friends, what can I say?) 

I hope to be around to support my lovely friends in their own creations too. This is an amazing fandom, and it’s been so cool to see new people find it this year and feel how I’ve felt about it for so long: that it’s a coming home of sorts. We have such a phenomenal community, so talented and generous and wise and funny and witty and wonderful. Thanks for letting me hang out with you guys here yet another year! 2024 will be my 12th year in this fandom! Hard to believe.

Okay, I’ll wrap up! I hope everyone reading this has a beautiful New Year’s Eve and a bright start to 2024!

#ao3 wrapped #a year in writing #my year in writing

[journeytothewest-daily]

Hi! Some thoughts and questions about chapter 14;

Hurray! More Monkey! I was so happy when Sun Wu-k'ung showed up, because he felt like he was from a different genre with his explosive violence and wild boasts.

When Wu-k'ung jumped around and did flips and cartwheels in pain he reminded me a lot of a Looney Toons character, and I could imagine his whole body going red and steam shooting out of his ears

But was it not cruel of Tripitaka and Kuan-yin to lie to him and torture him? I thought Tripitaka's admonition of honesty would be a ruse, but those two seemed a little too willing to torture poor Monkey.

It was, however, very funny when he was asked not to kill people at the drop of a hat, and then journeyed a thousand miles to moan to the Dragon King that his teacher was doing his hole in. I work at a middle school, and that is exactly how any bold 13 year-old will react at being asked to follow basic rules for behavior! Ha ha ha!

I knew plums came in winter (at least, they flower in February and March in Japan), but what is the wild tea that supplants the dying lillies? Is it different from the mountain tea the woodcutter's illiterate wife made him?

I was going to ask why Tripitaka let the hunter and Wu-k'ung kill the tigers, but said that the bandits were off-limits even though all life is equal, but then I remembered that Monkey had sworn to be a Buddhist monk, and it's only fair to admonish him and not the hunter in that case...

Thank you for the encouragement to keep reading! I read 59 books last year and had some very slow periods, so it was very comforting to have a weird (or rather, unusual) book that I didn't have to finish before NYE. At a speed of one chapter per three days, we'll have plenty of time to finish this book this year, and I think I'll start Romance of the Three Kingdoms afterwards, since I've had it on my shelf since 2016! Belated merry Christmas and a happy new year to you!

But was it not cruel of Tripitaka and Kuan-yin to lie to him and torture him?

Yes, I agree with you, imho it was a bit unnecessary since he became convinced by the Dragon to work for him and not to abandon him.

but what is the wild tea that supplants the dying lillies?

I don't know :( My research wasn't fruitful on that.

Thank you for keeping up with the reading, I'm very grateful for your comments. We'll probably finish the book before 2025, as you say (I think, I am bad at maths hehe). I find it "relaxing" as well not to have a deadline to finish a book, and that's why I don't have a reading goal myself.

Happy new year :)

[fumbliesthots]

1 more day to being 35. Hurray!

And that means I can finally apply for a BTO! At least in the Single Singaporean context!

The BTO thing is not really a milestone that I care about that much but everybody and their aunties want me to do it, so i thought, eh, why not? And apparently I could also choose to go the "sales of balance" or "resale" route so that I can get a flat sooner. But I'm not that much in a rush to move out of my parents' home, so I figured I can probably wait that 3-5 years for that BTO to be completed. There are probably people in more dire need of a place to stay than me.

And if i'm being honest, acquiring, renovating, and maintaining a property sounds like just a whole lot of meaningless chore to me. (It's a safety net. It's a safety net. It's a safety net...)

Meanwhile things at work are getting interesting or frustrating (depending on which day you'd ask me). Past few months of trying to retain my ETR in Ops ended up futile and surprisingly emotional. Because I'm not going to get a headcount from CTO any time soon, I've decided that maybe I shouldn't delay my plans to go to grad school much longer. My director has put forward the plan to recruit/transfer internally (my not-so-secret plan is to find someone with the right skills and aptitude to take over my role someday). And that will be my goal after this pod thing is set up and running.

What is this pod thing? It's a new operating model and set of processes I designed to address this department's challenges in the long term. It seems promising and everyone is excited to kick it off, even the clients.

So I guess the next big thing is for me to test the hypotheses we have about this new model, oversee how it will be implemented in the next few months, and if it manages to gain traction, I would finally have a peace of mind to leave this company where I've spend almost 7 years of my life.

I have to keep in mind that there will always be new interesting problems to be solved here. I could already anticipate what's going to come next... but maybe I don't have to be that person solving them. I have to set that boundary for myself because otherwise I will never find the discipline to let others in the team be independent enough to take over.

One could argue about whether this team sinks or swim without me shouldn't be the deterrent for me to go and pursue for other goals in life. But perhaps I've already accepted this as one of my "puzzles to be solved" before I complete this game at "boss level" and finally feel like I'm able to leave.

There are probably many other more interesting and meaningful problems out there that deserves more of my attention. I just haven't discovered them yet. I feel like going to grad school is a way to force myself to broaden my horizons and worldview. I'm reading a lot of books that I never would have picked up years ago, but I wonder if I need to put myself out there and immerse in the subject matter and the community aspect of it long and deep enough to truly care at the same level of passion I am at work currently.

I recognise that I could only be so invested in the work that I do because I have such a secured, privileged life in Singapore, surrounded by family and friends who provide me with constant support and care. And financially, because I have no partners nor kids, I am literally quite free of burden (except for the impending study and HDB loans I will probably have to take in the coming years). This is a very lucky thing that I don't want to ever take for granted.

A few times over the course of my life, I've probably articulated in a few different ways, my guiding principle in life – that is, if I ever find myself at a crossroads of what to do, ask – what net positive in the world can I create with the resources I have?

Something that I resonated a lot from a Simon Sinek interview few months ago in which he said, the true purpose in life is to serve people that serve others. THIS. I don't enjoy the attention of being the "savior" – there's more satisfaction working behind-the-scenes to make sure things are running smoothly for those who do the work to help others. And paying it forward is the only way to have a multiplying positive impact on the world. (In other words, you don't need to shower your appreciation on me, just show up and do your fucking job well. It's the best way to thank me.)

Just that right now, my impact is inside the corporate world. My 23 year-old self would laugh at me now. She'd probably never imagine the 35 year-old person she'd grow into could care so much about some corporate shit. It's a miracle I haven't got jaded yet. But hey lil' Evon, you're still using your creative abilities to create things, but just in an unexpected setting for people who you've grown to care about. Your values haven't changed!

But what I can tell you is this – we are definitely still figuring things out. Let's check back in again in 10 years' time and ask 45 year-old Evon.

#life #reflection #birthdays

[akirameta84]

i met my saving goal with a gift of early bday money from my maternal grandma :D

preordering pokemon scarlet/violet felt so good

i have a good bit left over. im feeling nice to myself. the spyro reignited trilogy is 65% off on steam rn (40usd->14usd) so im buying it. hurray. had this on my wishlist for ages lol

i still have....2 dollars leftover. lol. but now i can actually keep allowance for my own instead of saving it~ and finally i can save up to commission the many people i want to. ive wanted to do that earlier in the year but new pokemon games announced had to save yknow

#akira yells into the void

[marcusthegoldenlion]

Everyone follow KaaliyaGamer on Twitter. let's give my friend a bright new year! 1000 followers! Hip hip hurray! And Happy New Year!

@KaaliyaGamer

https://x.com/KaaliyaGamer?t=xJMIRt3IAxISTHu9Ry6SVA&s=09

#FF16 #FINALFANTASYXVI

#Friends #Family #Adventure #theboys #fortheboys #cat #life #goodmorning #joshua #phoenix #sauce #goals #success #videogames #coldsteel #gamer #rpg #twitter #follow #instagram #followers #followerstwitter #gamergirl #thegirls #forthegirls #finalfantasy #tifa #aerith

#ff16 #final fantasy xvi #friends #family #adventure #law of assumption #loass #affirmations #anime #tumblr milestone #the boys #for the boys #cat #life #good morning #joshua #Phoenix #sauce #goals #success #successful #meals #food #gamerlife #gamergirl #video games #the game #gamers of tumblr #followers #twitter

[glassvines]

I think this might be the first time since I started keeping record of all the new movies I watch during the year (started in 2008), that I made it over the 50-films-per-year goal. Hurray! (Edit: I actually did this last year as well?? I think the final 3 movies were watched in Dec right before New Year's so, not as impressive and I instantly forgot lol.)

Now if I could just complete my 100 pages of sketches goal.

#been trying to get better at landscapes this year #some comments

[doublegoblin]

Memory Leak

Jan 1 2045

Dear Diary,

Hello Diary,

Good Morning Diary

Diary Entry 1,

Sorry to waste all this space diary

Screw it I’ll figure this out later. Hello me! Hope when you are reading this things are going good. Just in case you don’t remember (hopefully you fill this out every day but we both know the dumb bitch writing this) you got this journal to kind of keep track of your day to day life. Hurray for new year resolutions!!! So I know the question on your mind ( I mean in my mind right now) why all the different greetings? Well you pretentious bitch because you decided to “keep the integrity of your history” or some dumb shit like that ha ha. Not because you can’t find a pencil with a good enough eraser to not fuck up the paper ;P. So yeah happy journal keeping. This entry is such shit since you drug your ass out of bed at twelve fuckin A.M. and fuck all has happened so far. So sunshine is going back to bed. Fingers crossed for entry two 2. No sign offs yet. Feels kinda cringe.

Jan 2 2045

Attention Captain Shithead,

Congrats you’ve maintained this goal for a second day in a row. You had a pretty nice day at work. Dave stopped by your office for a quick non-work related chat. He must of got a new cologne as a gift since he lingered for a while after his ass left. It was that cheap shit they say is expensive for the holiday. Fuckin motor oil and skunk. Maybe he knew and purposely let his funk diffuse out. Oh well. Overlord Jarod however also stopped by. The fuckin Litch lookin ass was actually quite pleasent. No bonus this new year but can’t expect much. Lunch sucked. Dinner wasn’t any better. Hopefully you’ve gotten that stove fixed by the time you pick this back up. Oh you didn’t say anything last time (and I’m not about to fill it in for you) but you feel like it’s a good sign. This month and year starting on Sunday. Feels nice and orderly. Maybe you’ll actually turn your shit around. Maybe you already have? Alright bed is calling your name. Good night Sam. 

Still cringe

Jan 3 2045

Fucking Tuesdays. Harold was throwing a fit about something in the break room during lunch. You had/have a migraine so rather than risk your head exploding you slunk back to your office. Still stinks like fuckin Dave. Going the bed. Sam out.

Jan 4 2045

Salutations Sam,

Yeah that works I guess.

Humpday baby! Fuckin work was pretty okay today. Your office finally doesn’t smell like Ode’ to cheap douche. A lot of meaningless emails back and forth today. Shipping talking about missing packages this and manufacturing complaining about to many people calling in that. Harold (you remember him right? The blowhard with the suspenders that was unleashing sonic warfare yesterday) wasn’t in today. Dude has had a perfect track record since fuckin-ever ago. Oh right! 4663 Yukon Blvd @ 5p.m. Sat. Jarod is taking us all out for a company outing. A little incentive to keep up with this stuff. You aren’t going to write this down anyway. You’ll have a better chance to remember this way. Wanda said to work on rephrasing. Are you still keeping up on that? I hope so. Mom called today. Dad had another fall. He’s okay this time. Neighbors were home and were able to get to him. I keep telling Mom she needs to retire or at least try working from home. I’ll give them a call tomorow after work. Nah. Lunch. Well after that happy note I’m going to bed.

Jan 5 2045

Fuck all happened today. Maybe keeping a journal every day is too much? I guess I don’t have to write a book each time. Just write down the big stuff or the small fun things? Called mom and dad at lunch. Dad’s a little dizzy after the fall but he’s otherwise fine. Didn’t hit anything this time so that’s good. Mom wants to know when I’ll come out and visit. Think I’ll swing by after work on tomorow. Hell maybe even stay the night. She’d be over the moon. Dave was working from home today. Kept sending me these fuckin videos of pets being idiots. He’s a good friend. Even if he distracts me from doing my job. It feels better to write like I and shit. Wanda had a point about taking ownership. I guess thats what I pay her for ha ha. Damn pencil is almost out of lead. Okay I wrote it on a sticky note. Alright going to start packing some luggage for the sleep over. Took longer than I’d want. How did I misplace such a big ass duffle bag? Bed time.

Jan 6 2045

Salutations Sam,

I was right mom is over the moon. Dad was in good spirits too. Hiding in my old room for a second to write. Still not super comfortable letting people know I’m keeping a feelings journal ha ha. Lots of good memories in these walls. Even found my old stash of cigs. Are you still smoke free? I was. Something about that rush of trying to keep it secret. It was only one cig though. Tasted fuckin moldy. 

Jan 7 2045

Salutations Sam,

Mom was on point this morning with the breakfast spread. Dad took his sweet time getting to the table but can’t really blame him. I told them about the company outing. We had a nice morning of just doing nothing. Dad and I actually went out to the pond to cast some lines. One of the blugills had swallowed the hook. Poor thing. Tasted pretty good though. Anyway I’m all re-packed and ready for this whatever it is. I’ll update after I’m back. Maybe I’ll even make a whole new paragraph.

So the company is moving. And I guess…so am I.

Feb 6 2045

Salutations Sam,

Well it’s been a wild few weeks. So to elaborate just in case your memory is foggy. The company moved to a new location and so did you. I mean. I was either going to move or not have a job and I like having heating and food to eat. This new place is maaaaaassive. I mean fuckin huge. The factory alone is like the size of a small town. Thankfully due to the law the office has an elevator. I was not about to walk up 23 flights of stairs. Jarod also took the time to let us know about some downsizing. I haven’t heard from Dave since the move. Why in the hell did we have to get rid of so many people? Surely if we can afford this massive place we can afford to keep people on staff? I knew I should have gotten his number when I had the chance. Maybe I’ll ask around the office and see if anyone has it. At least the drive is nice. Big place but in the middle of nowhere. I have windows in my office now too!

Feb 7 2045

Dad passed.

Feb 13 2045

Mom passed too.

March 6 2045

Salutations Sam,

I’m not sure if it’s the grief or what but something hasn’t been feeling right at work. It feels like we have less and less people everyday. I mean, it is a huge place so maybe I’m just at the wrong place at the wrong time? Whatever. Work is starting to get too much to handle. I think I’m going to take a break writing in this until either I catch up at work or feel better. Wanda says I’ve been making some good strides. Have you?

July 4 2045

Happy Independence day.

Sep 4 2045

Holy shit. I think the world is ending.

Sep 5 2045

Salutations Sam,

So the world isn’t ending. The last season wasn’t great but not that bad. So to catch up. Jarod sent me an email today letting me know I was being promoted. I mean it’s about time. He and I have been basically running this company since day one (even if he doesn’t want to admit it). To celebrate Dave and I went out for a nice dinner. Oh right. I mean you probably know (being me and all ha ha) but Dave and I got married. The bastard wore that awful cologne during our wedding. Would have been nice to have mom and dad there. I think they would be proud of me. I like to think they were there in spirit though (ha ha no pun intended) what with their urns being there and all. He makes me happy. Does he still make you happy? Do you still make him happy? Wanda was right, this journal has been helping. The new meds also help (even if they make my head feel fuzzy). So first thing tomorow I start as co-owner. Dave says I need to quit. He’s just jealous I think. It does feel strange though. Like we’ve been losing more and more people. It’s a big place though. Maybe I’ve just been stuck in the office for too long.

Sep 6 2045

Who’s Jarod? I’ve seen their name a couple times. Man. Dave is right I think I need to talk to my doctor. I built this company from the ground up. Maybe the years are starting to catch up with me. Maybe the meds aren’t working like they used to.

Nov 20 2045

Everyone is gone. Not dead. No just gone. I can’t believe I found this thing in the breakroom. I need to keep my notes again. Everything is getting hazey more and more each day. How big is this fucking building? When was the last time I saw Dave? He went down to the call center weeks ago. I think he’s gone now too. That’s fine. I’m used to being alone. We had a pretty big fight a while ago, before he left. He kept bringing up my parents. I didn’t know my parents. I didn’t like him teasing me.

Nov 21 2045

I hear footsteps throughout the building. Not my foot steps. I think I can also hear someone calling out. That can’t be possible. I’m alone. I think so at least. I hope so. 

I just killed a man. He smelled horrible. Like Motor oil and skunk.

Nov 23 2045

My name is Sam Ramsfield. My name is Sam Ramsfield. My name is Sam Ramsfield.

Dec 18 2-45

Hello Sam,

You sound like you’ve had a pretty rough time. I’m not sure who or where you are. But I found this notebook. Maybe I’m writing to the dead here but maybe just maybe I’m not really alone here. If you are alive (and also not wanting to eat my face) know that you aren’t alone. I’m sorry for my poor manners. You gave me your name but I can’t do the same. Please forgive me. You have very nice handwriting. It looks a lot like mine. Did we know each other? If you find this and find me (it won’t be hard to mistake me I’m most likely the only person in here besides you) please consider these questions and bring answers to them. 

Where did you come from?

Did we know each other (Are we maybe siblings?)

Do you know a way out?

Do you know where the yellow fog came from?

Can we be friends?

I look forward to speaking with you at some point. I’m going to leave this notebook where I found it. I usually wander around the Stone Temple until the large flood light goes dim. When the dark times are coming I make my way to the Clear Wall. The one with the wooden altar. Maybe we can look at the stars together?

Dec 31 2045

Salutations Sam,

Maybe next year will be different.

Sincerely,

SAM

#3 am writing #memory loss #isolation #mini horror #cw: swearing #flash writing #quick write #diary style #original fiction #writing #cw: memory loss #cw: dissociation

[strottine]

Hope everyone has a safe happy new year ! Hopefully 2021 will treat us better :)

#touya x yukito #card captor sakura #card captor clear #clamp anime #clamplove #yukito tsukishiro #touya kinomoto #ccsakura #ccs fanart #ccs #haven’t finished posting all my old 2020 art so here’s another one #trying to follow a routine rather than just doing everything at once #new year goals hurray #clamp

[duggardata]

Anna and Mary Maxwell Might Be Attending [Bible] College.  (Wow!)

Recently, an eagle–eyed Anon spotted the 2 Youngest Maxwell Girls, Anna (28) and Mary (25), in the absolute last place you'd ever expect—a college campus.  It's all on Facebook... Anna and Mary appear in a photo posted by Appalachian Bible College to its official Facebook Page, along with caption: "The first day of classes. That's something to smile about!"  (Permalink.)

Why Are We So Surprised By This?

Ordinarily, two young women attending college wouldn't be at all shocking, but the Maxwells are not ordinary.  Anna and Mary's Parents, Steve + Teri Maxwell, are openly anti–college.  Steve thinks that state–run education, including higher education, is "a godless, promiscuity–promoting, humanistic environment," and that it traps young people in debt.  He is wary even of Christian colleges, since he believes they cause children to rebel.  He’s proud of his sons' lack of higher education, and praised them for "avoid[ing] the influence and cost of college." Teri is, sadly, just as opposed to college—especially for women.  Back in 1999, she wrote an article speculating that college may undermine a woman's ability to be a good and godly wife.  Her article laments—

"As far as our daughters go, I wonder how many of us developed independent spirits during our college or working days. Has this made it more difficult for us to submit to our husbands in the meek and quiet way we would like?"

Finally...  Anna and Mary's views on this topic seemed to be aligned with their parents, until now. According to Steve + Teri, all of the Maxwell Daughters had planned to be Stay–at–Home–Daughters until marriage.  (See Also.)  (And all 3 Daughters seemed to be doing so, since none had moved out.)  What is more, in 2010, Anna described college as "silly," and said that she thought attending would expose her to unsavory influences, and possibly hold her back from her ultimate goal of "be[ing] a stay–at–home wife and mother."

So, yeah...  This is quite a surprise!  And, while neither Steve + Teri, nor Anna or Mary, has actually confirmed that they’re enrolled at Appalachian Bible College, their appearance on the Facebook Page is definitely suspicious!

Tell Me About Appalachian Bible College.

TL;DR   If you just want to know how conservative and restrictive Appalachian Bible College is, skip down to “Student Life.”

Appalachian Bible College (ABC) is a tiny (~250 Students), insular bible college, located on 150 Acres in rural Mount Hope, West Virginia.  (The Maxwell Family hails from Leavenworth, Kansas, which >800 Miles Away.)  It self–describes as a “non–denominational and fundamental” institution, primarily associated with “Baptist and Bible churches.”  Unlike many so–called “bible colleges,” ABC is nationally and regionally accredited.  (Hurray!)

A lot, lot more information...  After the jump.

Admissions—

ABC requires prospective students to submit an application; transcripts from high school or home school; ACT, SAT, or CLT test scores; and two reference letters, one from a pastor and one from another mentor, e.g., teacher or youth group leader.  A high school diploma or GED is required, unless the student is homeschooled.  In that case, a detailed homeschool transcript is needed, and standardized test scores are “especially important.”

As part of the application, prospective students must attest that they agree w/ the college’s Doctrinal Statement.

Academics—

ABC offers four degree programs—Bible Certificate (1 Year), Associate of Arts (A.A.) (2 Years), Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) (4 Years), and Master of Arts (M.A.).  In addition, it runs an online program for degree–seeking or non–degree seeking students.  (But, Anna and Mary were spotted on–campus, so they don’t seem to be in the online program!)  Anna and Mary haven’t gone to college, so they almost certainly aren’t in the Master’s program.  Let’s just look at the rest...

(Sidenote—Before we go on, just want to point out...  All ABC graduates must, in addition to completing academic requirements, show that they are members of a church and that they possess good Christian character.  If they don’t, they won’t give their diploma!) 

Bible Certificate—ABC describes the one–year program as an “opportunit[y] for you to dig into Scripture and build your life on its unchanging truths.”  The program has two tracks—Bible + General Education and Bible + Ministry.  As the names suggest, both tracks’ core curriculum is the Bible and Bible study.  Both also require three courses in ministry—Foundations of Ministry, Biblical Theology of Missions, and Personal Evangelism & Discipleship.  Where they differ is is what else they require...

For the Bible + General Education Certificate, students must also take four ‘core’ classes—English Composition, Speech, Physical Education, Music, and “Success Seminar”—plus, an elective of their choice.  (This curriculum also mirrors the first–year curriculum of ABC’s A.A. and B.A. Degree Programs, so students can easily continue their studies, should they decide to do so.)

For Bible + Ministry, ‘core’ classes are waived in favor of extra theology.  Students take Principles of Biblical Interpretation, along with classes on Systematic Theology (2 Classes), the New Testament (Survey Class + 2 Classes), and the Old Testament (Survey Class + 2 Classes).

Associate’s Degree (A.A.)—ABC also offers a 2–Year A.A. Degree in Bible + Theology.  (That’s the only major offered.)  For this degree, the curriculum is a 50/50 split between General Education and Bible + Theology courses, plus a few ministry classes and electives.  All students take the following courses—

General Education   English Composition (2 Classes), Speech, Physical Education, Music, Biblical Worldview, and Ethical Issues in Ministry

Bible + Theology   Principles of Biblical Interpretation, Survey of the Old Testament, Survey of the New Testament, Matthew to Acts, Genesis to Deuteronomy, Paul’s Letters (2 Classes), and Doctrine (2 Classes)

Ministry   Theology of Missions, Foundations of Ministry, Evangelism & Discipleship, and Homiletics I (Males) / Bible Teaching (Females)  

Additionally, students must take a history class, a science or sociology class, and an elective.

Bachelor’s Degree (B.A.)—Finally, ABC offers a 4–Year B.A. Dual Degree in Bible + Theology and in Ministry.  Each student completes General Education classes.  Beyond that, each student is also a “double major.”  Everyone’s first major is Bible + Theology and everyone’s second major is ministry–focused—but, not everyone has the exact same Ministry Major.  (More on that in a bit...)  As far as curriculum, students must complete the General Education, Bible + Theology, and Ministry courses required for the Associate’s Degree, plus the following additional core classes—

General Education   Health, Psychology, Sociology, Finance, 2 History Classes (History of Western Civilization and American Church History), and 1 Science Class (Earth Science or Biology)

Bible + Theology   Joshua to Esther, Hebrews to Revelation, Isaiah to Malachi, Job to Song of Soloman, Doctrine (2 Additional Classes), and Bible Capstone 

Ministry   World Religion and Cults, and Homiletics II (Men) / Women’s Ministry (Women)

Finally, students must also pick a Ministry Major and complete its mandatory coursework.  At ABC, there are seven ministry majors to pick from—some of which have concentrations.  Here’s the list of Ministry Majors, with additional concentrations or sub–specialties listed in parentheses—

Biblical Counseling  (Youth & Family or Women’s Ministries)

Camping Ministry 

Elementary Education

Missions  (Biblical Languages, Foreign Language / Spanish, International Studies, Nursing, or Teaching English)

Music  (Pedagogy, Performance, or Worship)

Pastoral Ministry  (Biblical Languages or Youth & Family Pastoring)

Interdisciplinary

The Pastor Ministry Major seems to be limited to male students.

Click the links to check out the coursework each Ministry Major requires.

Student Life—

So, yeah...  ABC is not a progressive place.  At all.  They’re upfront about it, though, which is nice.  Their Student Handbook is online, available for all to read.  Here are some highlights...  (All italics are mine, not in original.)

Discipline / Consequences—Students who break the rules face discipline in the form of “a verbal or written Carefrontation, a fine, a work assignment, a temporary room or dorm confinement, a social [or] ... campus restriction,” or “some other determination.”  Egregious offenses may result in the student being “suspended ... , asked to withdraw from the college, or dismissed.”

Dress Code—There’s a detailed Dress Code, with different different activities requiring different standards of dress.  Perhaps surprisingly, pants are allowed for female students for all but the fanciest standard of dress.  (For that, they’ll have to wear skirts or dresses.)  Here are a few of the rules...

“Earrings may be worn by females only,” and “all other body piercing is prohibited.”

ABC students are prohibited from getting new tattoos.  If a student has an old tattoo, they may be required to cover it at all times if the Dean of Students deems it “offensive.” 

Prohibited Activities—ABC says that, “in order to remain above reproach,” students are prohibited from the following “questionable activities”...

Consuming “alcohol as a beverage,” tobacco in any form (including e–cigarettes), or drugs for non–medicinal purposes.  (Penalty for violating this rule is dismissal.)

Serving alcohol to others, even if done in the course of a student’s off–campus employment.

Gossiping, or engaging in “other forms of impure speech.”

Listening to, viewing, or reading “unwholesome” media or literature, or accessing websites “that do not promote godliness.”  (See Prohibited Media and Prohibited Music.)

Attending “commercial movie theaters.”

Gambling.

Dancing.

Prohibited Media—Per the ABC Student Handbook, ABC students shall not consume “any media (including social media) that features vulgar or obscene language, sexual innuendo, nudity, immodest clothing, or ... a blatantly non–Christian message.”  Additionally, students may not—  

Watch movies rated PG–13, R, X, or NC–17, or shows rated TV–MA.

Play video games or use apps rated A, M, or RP.

... and, they’re strongly cautioned to avoid media that promotes “unbiblical definitions of love”; endorses “witchcraft or the occult”; mocks “law or law enforcement”; denigrates “marriage and the traditional family”; or contains “excessive violence.”  Students are urged not to consume media made by people—e.g., actors, producers, directors—“known for their stand against Christian values.”

Prohibited Music—Students are banned from listening to music “that includes God–dishonoring language, anti–biblical messages ... , a prominent resurfacing beat, pulsating and driving or dance rhythms, or sensual overtones in the music itself or in the performance.”  They’re specifically cautioned to avoid...

Rock—Because the “lyrics may be unacceptable” and “[t]he beat of the music may become the most prominent element.”

Country—Because the “lyrics may be unacceptable” and the underlying “music may be connected to a heavy rock beat.”

Folk—As “[e]xistentialism, humanism, or hedonism may be propagated through the lyrics.”

Jazz—Since syncopation may be “extensive[ly] use[d],” and “a sensual performance style may be employed.”

Contemporary Christian—Since “a sensual performance style may be employed,” “a beat may be overly prominent,” and the “lyrics may be theologically incorrect or existential in their emphasis.”

Relationships—

“The Bible restricts sexual activity to marriage between a man and a woman.  Thus, fornication, adultery, incest, sexual abuse of a minor, homosexuality, indecent exposure, sexual harassment, and other such activities are forbidden.” 

“[N]o display of affection through physical contact (including holding hands) on the part of non–married couples, on or off campus.”

Dating students are forbidden from sitting together in class or chapel.

No male–female pair, dating or not, may be alone together in anyone’s home or residence, on– or off–campus.

No male–female pair, dating or not, may socialize off–campus without a chaperone, unless they’ve been at ABC for at least 4 Semesters.

Divorced students “shall not be permitted to date other ... students.”

According to ABC’s Student Handbook, all these rules apply to all students, at all times, on– or off–campus.

All in all, it’s great if Anna and Mary are attending college, even if it’s a super–duper conservative one, like ABC clearly is.  The fact that they’ve possibly left home and are out there, living on their own...  Crazy to even think about, given Steve’s apparent iron grip on his household.  It can only be good from them to venture out on their own, even if it’s just to a slightly less stifling place.

#mary maxwell #anna maxwell

[theguildedtypewriter]

Writing Update

Hello All!

I'm going to try to make a habit of these so that you all know what's going on with the series and my writing in general. That way, you won't be missing out on exciting news or follower requests.

What's Going On

So many updates on the Newborn City Front. In fact, let's make a list for easy viewing.

Affinity for Pain got a new cover! That's right, she's updated and looking gorgeous. I've also started working on the rest of the covers for the series, because of course, I couldn't stop myself. You can see it here.

Burn the Bone will be looking for Delta Readers! Yes, a new term I've come up with just now for this fourth round of beta reading that the second book in the NBC series will be going through. You can learn more about BTB and if you'd like to be a Delta here.

Calling Evil Forth has words on the page! After a long spell of writer's block, the third novel actually has words and paragraphs and even a few pages! Hurray!

Newborn City has Merch! Patreon has updated its merch offerings and I've included these in several tiers. It's images of Hope, Ciaran, and Red that I drew myself. Show your support and get cool stuff! It's a win-win. You can check it out here.

I'm writing for CBR! That's right. Ya girl is writing for Comic Book Resource. I'm doing movies and gaming, with an emphasis on Dungeons & Dragons. So my fellow nerds out there I'd be so honored if you checked out the stuff by me, Rachel Johnson.

What I Want for the Future

Here are my goals for the coming year:

I want to grow my Patreon- I'd love to see some real traction with my account so that I can start creating custom writing pieces for people. I love the idea of creating my own little writing community that exchanges ideas, get to see my work first, and is rewarded with short pieces written just for them based on their unique ideas.

Get Affinity for Pain self-published- Yup. I'm taking matters into my own hands and releasing this bitch to the world! I'm going to begin the process of getting final copy edits, choosing a publishing format, and launching my book. Hopefully, if everything goes smoothly (when does that happen?), I'll have it out by my birthday, October 21st.

Move Burn the Bone through Delta reading- By the end of the year, I'd like to get BTB through its last stage of readers so that it's ready to be published once AFP has been out for a year.

Finish a first draft of Calling Evil Forth- Yes, I must finish getting the words on the page and actually complete the story so that the series can continue.

I'm very excited about the year ahead and am determined to have a good one despite everything, especially my terrible luck. I hope all my followers stay involved with me here and I'd love to see some of you over on Patreon. There's cool stuff happening at every tier so no matter which one you choose, you'll be happy.

That's all for now folks!

#writers on tumblr #writeblr #my writing #newborn city series #writing #writers #writer #writerscommunity #writer things #writersnetwork #writerslife #female writers #writers of tumblr

[pompadourpink]

Hello! I've been learning French for almost a year now and it feels like I've gotten nowhere. My native language is Spanish and I can speak a little bit of Italian but I am having the hardest time staying motivated with French... I just don't know how much I understand from the closeness of the languages I know and how much I understand from what I have actually learnt so far. Is there anything that might help? Any study tip or piece of media that would encourage us difficult students to stick around for French lessons?

Hello,

I'll start by quoting Nietzsche: if you have a why, you can bear almost any how. Take a step back and think about it: why do you want to learn French specifically? Do you think the new wave is fantastic and you want to be able to watch Breathless without subtitles? Or to read Bel-Ami dans le texte because you liked the movie? To live here for a year at some point in the future? To graduate with honours and get your dream job? Find your why, frame it, and think about it every time studying gets hard.

Then, about the romance thing: yes indeed. But that's actually a hidden blessing: it means you can grab a book, start reading it, and actually understand at least 50% of what's going on, without one lick of studying. There's no way to Earth you could do that with German or Mandarine. Use it to make progress quickly.

And that leads me to my last point: you're not a difficult student. You're an unmotivated student navigating this century's very deadly pandemic while trying to focus on your goals. Take it easy and be nicer to yourself. I'm about to start a 100-day challenge to learn Italian and planning to study 20 minutes a day, with a timer. Certainly not more, because I have ADHD, get bored easily, and tend to get disgusted when I work on something for too long, which then makes getting back to work super hard.

So, the plan: find my google docs (linked in my pinned post) and check out the first chapters file. Pick a book you already know (The Little Prince or a fairytale are good ideas), and go. When you're done with the first chapter (hurray), find the same book in the Books file and read it again without the translation. And then finish the book. And boom, in a month time you'll have finished your first book in French. In the meantime, follow us on social media, listen to old tunes, pick another book, record yourself reading it and compare to the ebook, start watching subtitled Youtube videos, get Le Monde's newsletter - focusing on your interests. One bite at a time.

That is to say, practice instead of obsessing over the grammar. Rules are boring and you can learn them on the go anyways - you can always ask me if you can't find the right post.

Hope this helps! x

#ask #studying

[itsonlystrange]

It’s official, I’m writing all of Stranger Things Season Four

I announced that I was going to do this way back in November, when I originally started, but here’s the official announcement.

Yes! I am writing all of ST 4, since we probably won’t have it for awhile, I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands.

I’ve been writing scripts for about five ish years now. I’ve taken multiple screenwriting classes and I have studied the duffers writing and stranger things itself for about 5 months now, jotting down all character qualities and traits so this will be as realistic as possible.

Now, as we will probably be getting more information as time goes on, this obviously isn’t going to be similar to the actual st4.

But NO! This is NOT A FANFICTION.

I will be writing it like an actual script, I’ve taken notes on the duffers writing and hopefully by the end it will turn out similar enough for you to imagine it as if it was canon.

I will be using ALL EVIDENCE OF SEASON 4 AND ALL PRIOR SEASON KNOWLEDGE ASWELL.

This means, YES! All new characters will be implemented into this season. It also means, YES! All audition tapes we’ve seen thus far (that aren’t from prexisting movies that the duffers used to try and trick us with) WILL BE REAL SCENES.

ALSO: the video store friday list comes into this big time. We don’t know exactly why certain VSF movies were put on the list, but I will be watching all VSF movies to get an idea on how the actual ST4 will play out so I can incorporate that into my version.

This will be completely canon compliant (SO FAR) as I’ve said, things will change by the time I get this done, so our educated guesses now could be very unreliable once we get actual set pics and more audition tapes and leaks. HOWEVER:

Since we don’t know where the Byers moved, they will be in Chicago.

NOW FOR WHAT IT WILL INCLUDE:

-Canon Byler

NOW HANG ON! No! I will not be tearing apart Mileven. Mike and El WILL break up but mutually and respectively. THIS IS NOT A FANFICTION, meaning all the characters WILL BE IN CHARACTER! So if that means Mileven takes longer to break up, then so be it. My goal is for this to sound real, for it to sound like it could actually be a season of stranger things.

NO! The main plot line will NOT BE BYLER. This isn’t a byler script. This is stranger things season four. All I can say is that Byler will be canon by the end. And the two scripts and sneak peaks I have posted thus far give you a hint as to how it will happen.

- I know I already said this but I’m reiterating: all characters from leaked audition tapes and Charles Murphy leaks and official stranger things announcements will be in this season. (Minus Fred bc we know virtually nothing about him so I can’t create a character surrounding someone we know nothing about) this includes: Hellfire club members and Eddie, Jason and ten basketball team, Chrissy, Vickie, Angela, Jake, argyle, and more!

-Brenner, Owens, and Lonnie are all back.

-Wileven angst (as I feel that is realistic after studying both of their characters) however you will get good wileven content.

-Will and El are still being bullied.

-Joyce and Murray team up (duh)

-Mike runs away to the Byers for Will’s birthday

-Will develops powers, HOWEVER, they are not even remotely similar to el’s powers and are more similar to the powers he already has (sensing the mind flayer) but on a much bigger scale.

-We meet a new number/lab experiment

-The upside down is seeking into Hawkins

-hellfire club is under scrutiny and people are accusing them of all the bad stuff going on in Hawkins

-A current main character will die along with some new characters. (Sorry guys! Like I said, this will be realistic and I have to do this in order for it to be realistic!)

-Will gets a coming out scene.

-Max and Dustin team up.

-Robin and Nancy team up.

-Max isn’t doing too hot rn but shes getting a GREAT arc.

-Lucas Is on the basketball team and is semi popular but is being used to do the upper class men’s bidding, he gets AN ACTUAL ARC THIS SEASON! (Hurray!!)

-Heartfelt Joyce moments.

-An AWESOME sound track! I’ll be creating a Spotify playlist for this!!

-Nine episodes! (Since we don’t know the current episode titles I’ll be creating them as I go, but PLEASE be aware that we’ll probably have the real episode titles before my season is done.)

-This s season will be very similar to seasons one and two.

-Much more darker elements.

-Will actually gets screen time and is a center plot point again.

-Billy is still dead lol. No revival! Sorry!

-Kids in America plays !!

-El is a total badass this season.

-Mike and Robin moments.

-Murray and Erica moments.

-Dustin gets a super amazing plot that I’m super excited for!

-A much scarier threat this time, the worse they’ve encountered.

-And MUCH MUCH MORE!

I CURRENTLY HAVE EPISODES 1, 2, AND HALF OF 3 COMPLETED.

Episode one will be available very soon. Full season will be out by April or May hopefully, maybe sooner.

-THERE WILL BE A TRAILER!!

PLEASE REBLOG AND SPREAD THE WORD.

Check out my Instagram, @bylerluvver for sneak peaks.

I’ll be updating this ever so often, and will be posting sneak peaks here and there to get you guys pumped.

STAY TUNED!

-REBLOG PLEASE-

PS: link will be in my bio and pinned hopefully after I finish episode three.

Each episode will be about an hour in screen time, or about 80 pages.

EPISODE ONE OUT SOON!

#stranger things #byler #stranger things 4 #mike wheeler #will byers #st4 #stranger things season four #el hopper #dustin henderson #lucas sinclair #jim hopper #tv shows #screenwriting #boost #reblog #my version

[jilljoycearts]

About the situation with the previously mentioned reposter, reposts in general, and the fandom. This is mostly about the russian part of the internet, the dark and fearsome place.

This post is very long, so I’m hiding it under the cut.

To sum it all up:

If you see drawings (fanarts) for the game Enderal and for the rest of the SureAI games on the russian social VK, published not by the authors of the drawings or not by their art groups, pages and communities, then they are placed against the will of these very authors.

About the rhetorics (mostly for the Russians that stumble upon this post): what people on VK call repost (share button) is an actual reblogging or retweet. In fact, a repost is re-uploading something not by its owner. Now let's start. The retelling is quite detailed. Also, a warning: although I can retell this whole thing in english from scratch, the post is translated from russian with the help of almighty google. I don't want to bother much with this and spend my energy on it. Most of the mistakes I still fix, but the sentence structure and phrasing might seem weird.

The man (hereinafter "character T"; we do not mention his name because he is only interested in your attention to his person) took under his wing a long-abandoned community (Enderal themed), asking to be a moderator. For several months he was posting stolen drawings (without permission and credits), until his vanity drove him into a trap: with a request of "reblog for reblog" (wanted to promote his own fan-creation) he messaged a small russian community of artists interested in the SureAI games. Naturally, seeing his reposting activities, everyone was utterly indignant. He was incredibly lucky that my drawing was the last one published on the dash of his community. Again, no credit. I left a comment urging him to remove the stolen things and explaining the common truths. To which no one answered, but suddenly a link to my tumblr appeared. I wrote another comment telling to delete again, and again no one answered me. When he had to start talking to me, Character T decided that it was a good idea to load a girl (who was so lucky to know both of us a bit) with the work of a negotiator. I leave it to you to judge the "honor and dignity" of this character and his decision. I scroll forward: he agrees to delete my work, while rolling out a post consisting of articles of the civil code, in which he puts the meaning “I reposted, am reposting and will continue that, because the law allows me”. At the same time, the negotiator girl gets tired of working as his secretary. I already intend to contact him personally, but I find myself in his blacklist. It would seem, "Well, calm down, hedeleted yours." But his intention to repost further stunned everyone. Naturally, the time has come to inform the foreign authors about this chronic stealing.

A new location was unlocked in our amusing adventure: a server of the game developers SureAI on Discord. There, one of the artists from whom he stole called him out, without mentioning the names (yes, the character T was active there, whilst annoying the local inhabitants). He responded after a while, again rolling out his cart of articles on the legality of reposts. He also managed to threaten me personally with something. In general, he was kicked from the server of the developers for lack of culture and propaganda of copyright infringement. Further, another foreign author tried to contact him personally, but in the same way received a cart of laws. In the meantime, the English-speaking part of the fandom artists decided to write an official letter of complaint, attaching all links to posts to be deleted, and listing the authors with whose content the character T is strictly prohibited from interacting in the future. This letter was tried to be sent by a German artist, who specially registered there, but she stumbled upon some tech difficulties. Firstly, she was blocked by the owner of the stealing community, where the character T was appointed as the moderator. Her page was empty, the name was not Russian - he thought it was a bot, I can understand that. She then dropped the complaint letter to the support of VK social itself. Even tried to message the stealing community specifically but another lag made it impossible. (and this was required according to the new "rules" of the character T, according to which it was decided to play. "So that your complaint was considered ..." and so on.)...

Sensing something is wrong, character T made an attempt to contact some Russian-speaking authors himself in the meantime. And they told him the same -- that he steals, and not “shares” for some “purpose”. And here comes an interesting thing: the phrases "well, something needs to be posted to fill the community" and "but I am not on their Facebooks, I found it on Yandex"(that's russian google). That is, our drawings turned out to be just a filler, because something needs to be posted. Searching by image is difficult, but he still has to post! Something. Anything. What for? I have an explanation and an answer to this, but since this is the purpose of the character T - to draw attention to his fan-creation, I will not mention it 👌🏻 Another of his phrases was that due to the increased attention to his community now he HAS to credit the authors 🤦🏻‍♀. In general, he banned the Russian-speaking artist, whom he contacted and received a well-scented bucket’s content on his head (and well-deserved of course).

Now let's return to the official letter of complaint from foreign artists, which never reached the stealing community, and after all it was sent by the Russian-speaking author L. This time the character T was able to read it, but as expected, he refused to remove reposts, said that the artists were arrogant, accused of gatekeeping and again expressed his intention to repost not only without permission, but also against the will of all these fandom authors (38 people). After all, he has a great goal - to popularize games and the universe in the ru-segment.

The same or the next day the owner of the stealing community contacted me (who had previously lost interest, abandoned it, and a year later gave it to the character T). The owner asked what was happening, I explained, and passed on the letter of complaint from foreign artists, which the German artist could not send because he blocked her. That I explained to him too and he unblocked her. No reaction to my explanations abot the character T followed, but we’ll come back to that later.

And now we decided it’s time for our last resort -- we contacted Nicolas (the main screenwriter, the owner of the rights to this universe and the main figure of the fandom as a whole). Here I will digress from the main line and note that interested people have dug out both the provisions of the Berne Convention and the laws of the Russian Federation, which the character T chose to ignore in his activities, hiding behind only those that are convenient for him. Now let's return to Nicolas, who had to take a break from vacation because of this circus. As it turned out, character T, sensing the smoke, came running to him first. But alas, Nicolas was on the side of the authors (who would have thought). As a result, we almost decided that hurray, it helped, because posts with pictures disappeared from the wall of the stealing community, and character T even disappeared from the list of moderators (I will return to the stage with the owner of the community: I assume it was his work). But it was clear that it was too early to celebrate the victory.

Change of location: again the server of the developers on Discord. After the kick of the character T, three days later, a brand-new account appears, which broadcasts about the character T in the third person using Google translate “ if he had not been pressed upon, he would repost peacefully in his community of a thousand subscribers. And now he will attract some audience of a dozen more groups and will repost there too”. Naturally, without direct evidence of the second coming, no one have kicked him yet.

On the same day, the VK support told me that the most effective weapon in our case is the DMCA form. This is inconvenient, but it works. Moreover, the stolen has already been removed from the stealing community.

Then people came across the news - the stealing community advertised a new community of the character T, which was shaped exclusively for reposting other people's drawings (and there were already several works, including mine). The adv post called to support the character T “and his work”. Naturally, in the comments, I and other people urged not to support this. We even managed to explain the situation to some random person. After that the post was deleted. We don't know who deleted the post (still the character T or the community owner).

At this point, I ask Nicolas to message the tharacter T again using the simplest words that reposts cannot be allowed without permission. At all. Even with links attached. Doesn't help because the main now-not-stealing community shares a new post of the new one stealing community again. That is, even the main copyright holder and owner of the entire thing is not a figure of authority for the character T. Summing up -- “I will “popularize” your fandom against your wishes. The laws allow me. "

But after a while, the reblog from the new community is removed from the main one.

And again, the change of location: to the discord of the developers, where the character T himself comes back and writes something (under the new name ofc as his old account is banned). He declares that he will now repost to some huge audience of 300k people (before that there were 200, and even before that 100, yeah), he is outraged by the complaint letter from the authors with the ban on reposting, he will deliberately not credit, and also he wants to reupload my fanfiction somewhere. After that, he was kicked again 🥾.

Naturally, the entire audience is shocked, the character T literally became famous and crowned himself with a clown wig in just a few days, and now the entire fandom and the informed ru-segment hates him. The retelling is over.

Almost. Now I thank google translate for the help above and I'm gonna retell even more without it as this information is rather new. He wrote his own “explanation post”, where he somehow found relevant addressing the sexuality of one of the authors who called him out, called Nico indifferent and passive regarding this situation, insulted literally everyone but him, the white knight, whom we all should be grateful to for his will of promoting our content. I facepalm very hard. And he reposts art to some small communities but no one gives a shit (surprisingly so, huh?). He adds the links to the authors. Now I don’t want to give him any attention anymore, I have some work to get done.

Here comes the part about the and for community itself (google translate helps me again):

For the artists:

For the people registered in VK there is a "Nemesis" algorithm (dropdown - report - copied content). It will want a link to the previously published content on the VK as a primary source. Its effectiveness is still in question, but if someone tried it, then share your experience. For the rest, there is a dmca form that wants passport data (the only one I know of that asks for it), which I personally do not want to share, but in general... It's up to you to decide. Advice: Include readable text with @ of your page, community or yourself in your watermarks. Thus, an adequate person will always see where to go for the primary source.

For the readers/viewers:

Fandom existence is based on respect for other people's work. This work is the reason fandoms exist. If you like the drawing, then praise the author, support them in accessible ways (like - comment - subscribe - send a link to a friend(reblog the thing) - give some moneyz). People will be pleased, honestly. And if you disagree with something or you go "Ew" for other reasons, then just walk by. This is, in fact, all that you can do. If you have ambitions, ideas and “I need to fill my dead community with something” (you are considering taking the author's drawing and placing it somewhere yourself), then you ask for permission and accept any answer. There is no other way. Otherwise it's a violation of the law. 

Why reposts (= re-uploads) are harmful I think there's no need to mention, but still:

First of all, it drives away traffic from the authors. It doesn't matter if fanart can be monetized or not (spoiler alert: it can). Example: If a figurative reposter hadn't taken away figurative content, then a potential viewer interested in this content would go to search for it himself. And would have found it posted by the author. And then it is already possible to take a closer look at the other work as a whole, and even give the author money so that they draw something personalized for this viewer personally. That’s an example. It seems to be clear. Artists on the Internet care about their traffic, which is responsible for audience growth and all subsequent opportunities. This is the basics.

About monetizing fan content.

It depends solely on the developers / authors of games and books (original owners of all rights). Sometimes the ban on monetization hangs for some time after the release of the game (as was the case with Hades), sometimes you can sell keychains / posters / whatever with fanarts on them right away. And sometimes you can't, everything is individual here. Again, I think it is clear that if a viewer finds the original image posted by the author themselves, then this viewer has more chances to buy merch with this image. After all, the author will definitely add that the drawing is available as a merch. Reposter -- never. He does not know that, he found it on Yandex/Google.

Specifically about me and my community:

You know that my main audience are not russians. I have already abandoned my russian community once. Would I want to disappear from there again? So far, there is no such desire. People I have there are nice and friendly, despite the small number. How much do I really care about reposts of drawings on an objectively dying or already dead fandom? I'll leave it to you to decide. I have been here since the 2016-17, with me the fan activity started, and with me it will end. Everyone who is interested in SureAI games knows me. And although I have the permission from the devs to monetize fanart and fan content in general, it is obvious that $20 from posters and magnets every few months is not my motivation. I am here because I love the game universe and its characters. I make my own thing, quietly rejoicing, and I don't look around much. Reposts are evil on a different level, and not on this one. Does T's intention of re-uploading my fanfiction or even rewriting it somehow thrills me? I don’t care at all. Let him read a well edited and thought-through text for once. But I doubt it will help a little.

In general:

My subscribers / readers / followers know where to look for my updates. A thinking person that sees a repost will go and find the author themselves. Be it pictures that they see, text or something else. Those people who don't think are obviously not interesting for me as an audience. Other authors share this position.

Finally, end of this text. It has taken me 4 hours to write this all in russian, maybe another one to edit the google output and add more things AND almost one week of my time to deal with this all (and don’t forget other authors involved, they spent a shitload of time on it too). From now on my position is “time is money” and if the character T resurfaces he’ll have to pay me for the attention he seeks, lol 

#enderal #sureai #art theft #reposters #5 pages on google docs #goddamnit #nehrim

[itsclydebitches]

(Vexed anon) Okay, good point, but I’m pretty sure finding the way to open Jinn is just as important, so she’s doing exact what she was smart enough to not do during V8.

It is important, but Salem didn’t have access to the Lamp back then. So basically the timeline goes: 

I want all of the relics. Let’s start with Ozpin’s at Beacon.

Hey, Cinder. Go track down Fall and steal the Maiden powers so we can access that vault once we conquer the school. 

You got the magical key? Great. Now let’s take Beacon. Hurray! 

Tyrian, while all this is going on I want you to hunt down the Spring Maiden. No reason why we can’t be multitasking. 

So any minute now I’ll have the Relic of Choice and Tyrian will find me the next Maiden and then... wait. What do you mean Cinder was nearly taken out by a Silver Eyed Warrior at Beacon? And the Crown is nowhere to be found? And Tyrian can’t find Spring? Well shit. 

Okay, new plan. We need to deal with this Ruby girl. She might be young, but any SEW is a threat. Tyrian, you go kidnap her for me. Then we’ll get back to hunting Spring. Cinder, you work on recovering your strength. 

Tyrian you... failed to kidnap a sixteen year old girl? C’mon, man. 

WELL the good news is that though we can’t find the Crown and we apparently can’t kidnap a freaking child, we do now know where the Spring Maiden is and it turns out Lionheart is a coward who will hand over Spring’s vault to me. Two for one deal! Excellent. Leave the girl for now. Cinder, Watts, you two go confront Raven and get her lackey on board for opening the Haven vault. Then I’m sending every subordinate I have to this fight so there’s no way a bunch of teenagers take the Lamp instead of me. 

WHAT DO YOU MEAN A BUNCH OF TEENAGERS TOOK THE LAMP? AND OZPIN HAS REINCARNATED ALREADY? 

Soooo I still can’t find the Crown. Even if I did find that vault Cinder is now in the wind. The Spring Maiden is gone, currently out of reach, and the same SEW we keep failing to kidnap/kill now has my Lamp. Also, my arch-nemesis is back from the dead in what appears to be record time. What a mess. Fine. If you want something done right, do it yourself. Forget the Crown for the moment, forget the damn Lamp. I’ve still got two other Relics to grab. Ironwood likely has the Winter Maiden right there in Atlas. I’ll just go with my massive army, conquer the place, and take the Staff myself. 

Oh hi, Cinder! Well this is an unexpected but pleasant surprise. Wait. You have the Lamp? Oh hell yes. Okay, we’re back to multitasking, everything’s coming up Salem. We’re still on board for taking the Staff, but now we can start moving onto Stage Two of the Relic gathering: figuring out how to use them. You grunts keep up the attack on Atlas, I’m going to send out a bloodhound grimm to track down Ozpin’s new vessel. He can tell me how to use this prize now that I finally have it in hand... 

I have a lot of issues with how Salem is written - largely revolving around why she’s not using her own power to achieve the above tasks - but putting that aside, I think the tasks themselves hold up decently. She theoretically has twelve goals that can (largely) be done in any order: get four Maiden powers to access vaults (or just have them to make her team stronger/keep Ozpin’s weaker), conquer four cities/find four relics if they leave their vaults, figure out how to use four individual relics (if we assume there are other conditions like knowing “Jinn” for the lamp). There’s also the added thirteenth goal of snuffing out any SEWs that show up. Which means she’s essentially been an opportunist. Can’t find the Crown? Focus on Spring. Can’t find Spring? Get rid of the SEW. SEW escapes? Go for the Lamp. Lamp is lost? Go for the Staff. Lamp unexpectedly ends up in your hands? Start tracking its previous owner. Outside of limitations like the bloodhound grimm not having anything to follow before now, yeah, Salem could have made lots of different choices: gone after the Sword, continued hunting Raven, focused on Ruby, etc. There were lots of other possibilities, but she did what seemed to have the best chance of success at any given time. Like sending Tyrian because she expects him to beat a half trained teenager. Like heading to Atlas because she knows the Staff is there, the Winter Maiden is likely there, she has Watts to get everyone past Atlas’ defenses, etc. That all presents far better odds than “Keep tracking Spring when Spring has a portal semblance that let’s her hop around Remnant” or “Keep tracking the Lamp when all I know is it disappeared from Haven and could be anywhere right now.” There are few if any leads for a lot of those other tasks, so Salem makes the choice that stacks the odds in her favor. 

Minus actually using her power, of course 😒

#rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 8 #mymetas #Anonymous

[shadowsong26fic]

Coming Attractions!

I know I usually do this on the first Monday of the month, but given that this month starts on a Tuesday, I don’t feel like waiting that long.

As always, feel free to comment/let me know what y’all are up to, what you did last month, what you plan on doing this month, we can do an Open Question Night, etc.

Also, plugging my Discord server, as I have done in the past--again, this is basically just a (theoretically) more interactive extension of this blog. It’s pretty chill/quiet for the most part, but I’m happy to talk there if you want.

All right, here we go!

So, you may have noticed that my NaNo posts...didn’t happen. That’s because I basically did not meet any of my goals last month--I got a pretty strong start, and then between some IRL/personal life things that happened, plus missing a couple days and not getting back on the horse, so to speak...yeah.

I did get one piece done--a Zuko-centric Avatar: the Last Airbender AU Outline, with the point of divergence being the stampede during the Ba Sing Se arc. Check it out, let me know your thoughts!

Anyway, that was last month, and now it is a new month, and I have Plans and High Hopes for actually Accomplishing things!

Precipice:

I absolutely genuinely for real this time plan to get the last chapter (or two) out in the next week or two. There’s a fairly long section with Bail and Ahsoka and Moonshot (Rex and Leia joining them towards the end); and then a scene with Palpatine and Lavinia; and then a final wrap-up scene from Padme’s POV.

After that, as I’ve mentioned before, things will work a little differently. I’m going to start posting Arc Eight: Escalation alongside Arc Seven Point Five: Preludes. Preludes will be in a separate fic, and will be seven stand-alone short stories taking place during the six-year timeskip between arcs Seven and Eight. They may or may not be presented in chronological order, and they’re a bit more plot-relevant than the stuff that turns up in Bonus Content. A lot of them deal with integrating Rebels content (the first one I have planned takes place two years after Arc Seven and will focus on Kallus); and I’ll probably deal with Maul and Infernalis’ successor. I’m still finalizing all the details for what I have planned here (especially since it can’t mirror Rebels entirely, partly because season 2 alone will be...wildly AU; but also because I have Plans for Thrawn that involve him not being kidnapped by space whales, lol). If there are any specific things you think I should touch on in one of these seven stories, let me know! But bear in mind that it will be limited to seven stories, so I may not do it or I may make a simpler/condensed version for Bonus Content instead.

Anyway, if you’ve been counting the years, you might be able to guess what the titular Escalation in arc eight is :D

That being said, I don’t expect to get any of this out until sometime in January at the very earliest.. I’d like to get a bit of a backlog worked up (so I stop having, multi-month hiatuses between chapters <.< ), and given other things I have planned (see below) it may take a bit of time until I’m ready to post. I’ll put out an update post with a planned schedule/etc. somewhat closer to when things are actually going to get going.

SWBB:

I have picked the story I’m going to do for this, hurray! ...I’m still kind of. Like. Searching for the actual Plot involved, but I know what I’m writing about, so we’ll see where it goes :D It is not OFLAM, which I do intend to keep working on/get out there at some point (which I know I’ve been promising for literal years now but shhhhh).

Anyway, for the story in question, I might already have the minimum wordcount for the first checkin on January 10, (I haven’t counted, but I’m probably close, if I count all the fulltext I have; I doubt all of it will make it into the final story, but we shall see), but I’m hoping to be a bit more solid than I am right now by then.

AtLA:

Apart from the outline I mentioned above, I have a couple projects in the pipeline, now that I’m back in this fandom. I’m hoping to have some significant text done on at least one of them to start posting next year.

My primary focus is probably going to be an Avatar Zuko storyline I’ve been poking at for a few months, but I also have a long epic tragic romance starring Lu Ten that will hopefully materialize at some point.

Additional AU outlines are also a possibility! They’re a lot of fun, whatever the fandom I’m doing them in XD

Original:

Hoping to get some done this month, as always; I didn’t get anything put together last month, but--again, life intervened.

Also, would you guys be interested in seeing some of my original stuff here? I know I’ve linked The Phoenix before, which is a crossover between Star Wars and one of my two primary origfic worlds (and also...pretty much the only time I’ve actively written Vader as Vader, lol...), but I have A Lot more. There should be links in my index post to the archives (which...I need to update...), but I’m always happy to share more!

And...I think that pretty much wraps it up! Focus this month is probably going to be on SWBB and the AtLA stuff, once I finish Precipice, but I’ll probably bounce into the upcoming arcs in Precipice!verse as well, and some original things. Maybe fill some long-overdue prompts/asks...

But, as I mentioned at the top of the post, I also like to hear about what you guys are doing! What have y’all been up to? And/or Open Question Night?

#coming attractions #miscellania #shadowsong writes atla #shadowsong writes star wars #shadowsong writes original fiction #open question night