#ALSO I'M SO SORRY BUT I'M GOING TO BE QUITE OFFLINE THIS WEEK

[dreamingamongthestars]

This is such a hard post for me to make. I know Liam Payne was clearly guilty of many awful things, none of which should ever be excused.

When i was a little girl who grew up with 1D (offline and unaware of what was going on behind the scenes with management) and listened to their music, watched their videos, and read about them constantly, Liam was my favourite. I was as in love with him as any innocent naive little girl could be. I wrote stories about us falling in love, stared at pictures of his face. I still have a tshirt of him in my drawer, my 1D poster on my wall, and a bracelet with his name. I made a cringe ass poster to bring to one of their concerts saying "Liam let me kiss you". I lost interest after the breakup and I never knew why the reason behind it, the abuse going on behind the scenes, or Liam's behaviour, until much later when I would see posts about them. By then, I was already put off by his new songs and the things he would say. I knew that he must have been suffering with a lot of mental health issues and drug abuse. It wasn't an excuse, but I also pitied him, and I hoped he would find peace.

Later on, just last week, I was especially disgusted and disappointed when I heard about what he did to Maya Henry. I was content knowing that I've moved on from being his fan, now aware of what he's done. But then I felt so so awful for Maya and angry at him. I hoped that Maya would get justice and find peace herself.

But I can't help but think of his poor son, Bear, and his mother, and even his current girlfriend. I imagine young me would be in shock and grief if I found out. To die like this, intoxicated and clearly not mentally healthy, is such a tragic thing to happen. To see what he has turned into was so very sad. I don't want to speculate if it was suicide, or if he did it on purpose in response to Maya's accusations. Above all, I stand with her. But to watch the culmination of charming young talent, industry exploitation, bad behavior, and such an unfortunate end to someone I loved as a child without truly knowing anything about him has elicited emotions I can't quite name. Pity? Grief? Perhaps towards him, or not towards him now but the person he was, his child, his mother, his family, possibly even his bandmates, who were with him during such difficult times, and the people who grew up loving him?

Certainly I feel this for poor Maya, who will surely be relentlessly abused, harassed, and accused of causing this, which above all she must be protected from.

I pray that they all find peace in this awful situation. I hope there was a time when Liam was happy and healthy, when he wasn't treating others as badly as suspected. I hope Simon Cowell and all those responsible for the exploitation of these boys will be brought to justice.

To all who grew up loving him like I once did: it's okay to feel sad, and to grieve for someone we may have loved - even parasocially - at one point of our lives, just as we felt disappointed and disgusted finding out what he did to Maya. We will condem his wrongdoings and support Maya thoroughly amid this, and move on together.

But I also can't ignore what the media did to this man. To TMZ for getting pictures of his body, probably being how his loved ones found out about his dealth. Nobody deserves that, Liam could never deserve this loss of dignity.

We need to simultaneously advocate for justice for Maya, and against TMZ, the media, and management for what they did to Liam. This is unacceptable.

I still can't help reliving the memory of almost crying, reading about the little boy who would regularly get treatment at the hospital for his kidney complications. Treasure your childhood, hold on to your memories, but always keep a conscious mind and strong sense of justice. I'm sorry it had to end like this

[timelessmulder]

[Fibercrafting] Whatever Happened to Spun With Love? {heavy}

(31 days of horror day 9: Spin)

For the past five years, Caitlin "Cat" Doherty found her foothold on sites like Instagram and Ravelry selling commissions for her eye catching, hand spun yarn made with ethically sourced dyes and alpaca wool. She had a small but moderate presence on the convention circuit, selling handmade goods that showed off her yarn. Eventually she started making limited runs, available at convention booths and through higher tiers of her Patreon. Shortly after this she quit her full time job in data entry to pursue fiber works full time.

In mid-2022, at the urging of some other people in the hand dyed yarn business, and people who had bought from her before, she opened her own Etsy. The catalog was massive, with at least twenty listings. This included her most popular limited runs that always sold out within moments. This was when the cracks first began to show, even among her most devoted followers: this was a huge amount of work for one person to be undertaking, even if the listings promised continued limited runs and wait lists.

In an Instragram announcement, crossposted to her Twitter, Cat said:

I appreciate the concern from all y'all :3c but I calculated the amount of work I think I'll be able to handle running a small business. If things actually spiral out of my control, I will step back and reevaluate.

Despite her words, a healthy amount of skepticism remained. Her fans worried about her health, and naysayers thought she'd fold within a few months.

this is a lot for someone to handle! take care of yourself cat

she's going to hightail it the first time she gets orders and the backlog goes crazy. shes doomed

wouldn't it have been smarter to start with like five??? get that bag ig

The orders remained steady for the first five months of operation. Cat would periodically close listings and get items out to customers with slow wait times that remained consistent, typically a few weeks before arrival. The convention appearances came to an end, much to the dismay of people who enjoyed seeing her cottagecore booth in person, but Cat assured people that once she found a groove with this business she would start going to conventions again.

No one was really surprised when things started to slow down. Reports brought up longer wait times, and a major backlog that she couldn't keep up with.

i was put on a waitlist like two months ago and people who ordered straight from the listing got shit before me

girl just limit the waitlist no one will judge you!!!

Cat Doherty tweeted an apology:

I'm so sorry for all the issues. A major life event happened, but I'll be getting back on top of things! I will be halting any new listings to work on my backlog. I'm so sorry for the frustration and inconvenience. In the meantime, why don't you check out Jessica's shop, Spindle and Thimble?

Jessica White was a fellow dyer who also did work dying fabrics. Her store was not as prominent as Cat's, but she had an unmatched business savvy that gave her a solid niche despite middling Etsy reviews. While most of their friendship remained behind the scenes, with Jessica being someone who preferred to keep her life offline, it seemed that Jessica wanted the novice entrepreneur to succeed. Many took the shout out to be Cat returning the favor.

True to her word, Cat closed her Etsy for the time being and started to send out yarn to the people still waiting on orders. People responded with annoyance at how long it took, but surprised delight that the quality was excellent as always.

Three months after the announcement, the shipments stopped. A thread by Lisa Fitz appeared on ravelry:

Has anyone gotten an order from Spun With Love recently?

I should've been in her next batch of orders but its been weeks. I haven't gotten a shipment and no text communication from Doherty. I paid upfront for this!

This spun out in predictable directions.

Christ I hope she's okay ):

lmao who wants to bet money that we've got another "fake her death because she couldn't handle the pressure?" going on

The second comment referencing multiple situations where fiber craft artists have faked their deaths due to being overwhelmed by their sales numbers, most notably Mystic Creations Yarn (talked about in this thread). This situation exploded, with some people doubling down on the idea that she's vanished off the face of the earth rather than deal with potentially irate customers, while others expressed genuine concern. Everyone agreed that if there was an issue, they hoped she would reach out to them and explain.

A few days later, when the argument was a post every few hours instead of a constant stream, Jessica stepped in.

Hey guys, Jessica here. Cat has asked me to let you know that she's had a major health scare and she's very sorry for the upset she's caused to all of you. In the mean time, I will be offering free products of similar color to those who haven't had their orders fulfilled. Just email me a copy of your receipt. If not, we will work on getting refunds out to you.

Most were relieved at the update on Cat's well being, while others preened at being correct that she'd fold under the pressure. More arguments ensued between those people, and those scolding them for being so callous about her health. The argument got pretty heated, only stopping when a mod stepped in to tell everyone to play nice. Creative burnout is a known thing in the crafting community and Cat shouldn't be punished for it, though she should have stepped forward sooner to let everyone know what was happening.

The thread fizzled out after that. People moved on with their lives, chalking this up to another piece of craft drama and more than happy to leave it at that.

Months passed, and someone returned to that thread:

Sorry to necro, but did anyone else see the news report?

In the post was a link to a news report from the town where Cat was living. She had been murdered, and her body only recently found.

To say the thread exploded after that would be an understatement. There were people apologizing for being so cruel about her vanishing, people were trying to reach out to her family to see if there was any way they could help. Digital vigils were held for the person taken too soon. And as it often does on the internet, a question arose from the posters: who had done it? Why?

hey can anyone get into contact with jessica???

i don't think its appropriate. they were friends, jessica is probably grieving like the rest of us

dude leave her alone

idk yall her post is pretty suspicious

what the fuck is wrong with you?

But the seed of suspicion was laid in the minds of some forum users. It spread into the wider community, though everyone's grief disguised any suspicions placed on Jessica. Those who found her behavior odd were often shunned and blocked for it, until they stopped bothering outside of their conspiracy corners. These people would soon be vindicated when news broke that Jessica White had been arrested in relation to the death of 34-year-old Caitlin Doherty.

The investigation at this point is still on going and very little is known about it, but initial reports are saying that someone broke into Cat's rented studio and beat her to death with one a piece of her spinning wheel. Few other details have been released to the public.

--------

ffiberfarrts commented | 2.1k upvotes:

hey op why is this on hobbydrama

[the-lark-ascending69]

Near-future, black mirror esque AU in which Nancy, stressed college student with loads of childhood trauma, gets recommended by her psychologist to get an emotional support robot. That's what they're called, yes. They're sold to very lonely people to pretty much look after them emotionally. Nancy has always hated the idea, and doesn't really like androids or robots of any kind. Plus, she thinks it's quite sad that she's so lonely she needs an android to keep her company. She also couldn't possibly afford it.

Her friend Steve, though, who hasn't seen her in a year despite living 15 minutes away (she has a tendency to isolate herself and use her studies as an excuse), got her one. It's a second-hand unit, a slightly older model that's seen several repair shops in the past, but it works, and it was half the price of a new one. He shows up to her apartment with the box, looking smug and proud of himself. If anything, Nancy feels insulted.

She doesn't touch the box for a few weeks, and doesn't get rid of it either, because her studies take her so much time, she can't bring herself to keep her apartment clean. When her mother visits and sees the mess she's living in, with a perfectly functional android willing to help her, she finally caves, and as soon as she's alone, she decides to see if this thing can at least help her clean up.

It surprises her that it looks so... human. Its skin is soft and warm, with all the natural imperfections of a human's skin. Same as her hair. She's dressed in old worn-out clothes, and she curls into herself, in fetal position, inside the box. Only the button under her skin on the back of her neck reveals her as an android. Nancy reads the instructions, presses there for 10 seconds, and waits.

Or she planned to wait - eight seconds in with Nancy's fingers pressed on that spot, and the android's eyes flew open. She cried out, screambled out of the box and looked around, breathing heavily and hugging herself. Her eyes fix on Nancy, look her up and down with a frown, and asks:

"Who are you?"

Nancy opens her mouth to reply, then looks down at the instructions, hoping they'd say something about this kind of scenario, and that her new robot didn't go rogue and try to kill her.

"Wait, are those my instructions?" The robot asked. She looked down. "I really don't mean to complain about my living situation going from extremely fucked to simply fucked, but that is not my original box. Mine was smaller, and it had a bunch of little dots on the side. Did they sell me again?"

The instructions said nothing about this possibility, so Nancy decided it was time to improvise.

"I... my friend got you at a garage sale, I think."

"Oh. Well, that is low, even for me," the robot said. She rubbed the back of her neck. "Should my neck hurt this much?"

Nancy blinked.

"Shouldn't you know that?"

"Honestly, I don't even know what levels of pain are normal for me. It always hurts just a little bit somewhere, like, right now, my whole spine really hurts." She laughs. "At least I think it's supposed to feel like pain? I don't think we're wired to feel pain, exactly, I mean, that would be just sadistic. Talk anti-natalism to me. But I swear this spot right here just feels really really bad. Or maybe it's anthropocentric to... perceive it as pain, don't you think? It's very existentialist, actually, the whole... perceiving thing - I bet Berkeley wrote something about it, at some point, but I haven't read him in ages."

"You read books?"

"What? Oh. Oh, uh... I - I think I'm offline? Like, I don't have access to the database, so I kinda have to do it the old-fashioned way if I want to learn somethin," she said. "It's cool, though! I like reading a lot."

"...Okay. So, um... here it says your model is..."

"Robin," the android said. Nancy looked up.

"I'm sorry?"

"That's my name," she said. "I came up with it, I - I thought it sounded nice. Do you like it?"

Nancy stared at this... thing, a million thoughs coursing through her head. The first one was a newfound understanding of her low price.

She made a movement with her head that could be understood as both a shake and a nod at the same time.

"Yeah, yeah, sure" she said, brows knit together. What the hell did Steve get her into? "It's... nice."

"Oh, thank God, because Mom and Dad hated it."

"Mom and...?"

"My first owners - Richard and Melissa, I always called them Mom and Dad. They... they, uh, they hated that, too."

Jesus Christ.

"So... Robin," Nancy said. "I was wondering if you could help me put away some of my things while I study."

"Oh! Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure." She stood there, eyes wandering, around, until they fell on Nancy's bookshelf "Holy shit, you have Dostoyevski! Is it in Russian?"

Nancy blinked, opened her mouth, took a step back and shook her head. Robin was already striding towards her bookself, tracing the spines of books with her fingers.

"Actually, why don't you read after you clean this up?"

Robin turned to see her, eyes wide and a growing smile, like a kid in a candy shop.

"I - I can read all of this?"

Nancy was going to kill Steve.

She shrugged and shook her head.

"Sure," she said. "After you clean this mess."

"Aye aye, cap!" Robin chirped, making a quick salute with her hand and getting to work.

Nancy was, for certain, going to murder Steve for making her responsible for this... thing. There was something wrong in her system, and that was very much obvious. She looked down at the instructions manual - surely there would be a way to turn her off for the night. She wouldn't want Robin to murder her in her sleep, or worse - wake her up at 4 am to talk about books.

Or she could just tell her to shut up. She was a robot, anyway. It's not like she could feel anything.

[welcome-to-green-hills]

I'm thinking about just leaving the fandom tbh. So many people arguing over the Sonic 3 trailer, and when I share my personal opinion on it, I get a bunch of jerks in my comments being all mean. I'm getting so tired of all of it... do you have any advice? I love Sonic stuff but I can't take this anymore

Hi Sweetheart,

I’m so sorry that this is going on. No one should have to experience this negativity in a fandom. No one should have to worry about expressing a thought or an idea with others.

I don’t have the power to control what goes on in the fandom. I can only control what goes on in my space and with what I curate. I never want you to feel discouraged or upset while you’re here. I call this place a home-away-from-home for a reason. I want you to feel safe and happy here. I promise you that you are welcomed and encouraged to share what’s on your mind. You never have to worry about changing yourself to get my attention or approval.

Also know that you have the power to curate your Tumblr/social media experiences to whatever makes you happy. Never feel pressured to follow someone or something because it’s popular at that moment in time. If that means muting specific words or unfollowing accounts, then please do what is best for your heart and mind. More importantly, I think that rest is key here. You can still love something tremendously, but need a minute or two to walk away and collect yourself. You’re not quitting a fandom if you’re catching your breath. Sometimes people can be a lot. And that’s not your fault. I promise. You’re a Sonic fan if you need a week or two offline or to explore other fandoms. You can always come back.

My best advice for you is to do a bit of spring cleaning and cater your dash to some topics that make you happy. And if you need to, take a break. There were times in the past where I have taken breaks and came back a few days later. This helps more than you know. Following things that make you happy does help with lifting up your spirits. If you have to mute words, unfollow accounts, or block people, then by all means do so. The important thing to remember is your wellbeing and happiness. Never change yourself to fit in with a trend.

I hope that this helps you, my dear. Please be safe. You matter immensely.❤️✨

[legendsobsessions]

Well, the Torracat is thoroughly out of the bag now. Let's clarify some things, and I'm very, very sorry for the confusion:

The Cynthia that has been on this blog for the past... week? Something like that, was not actually me. That said, given how concerning the Light of Dusk has been and their allegations of having kidnapped me—which were not true, by the way, they used some clever video editing to make it look like I was in considerably more trouble than I was—I can see why someone pretending to be me was necessary. It likely would have worked, too, if it hadn't been for... well, me. Oops.

The Light of Dusk, it seems, was almost entirely ex-Galactic. Which explained the warp panels. There were too many warp panels. (It also makes the fact that Nova—or as they may be better known offline, Cyrus—never returned from their meeting with them last night considerably more concerning. They have their Pokemon and I suspect Giratina was with them, so I'm going to choose to hope that they're laying low for a bit to protect themself.)

In the interest of transparency (and the fact that, while they did an... alright job of pretending to be me, several of you clearly suspected the truth at least) I'm going to have the individual that was pretending to be me properly introduce themself to you all.

...Must I do this? I already agreed to talk about this with... others... in private.

You decided to turn Pelipper Mail on, and also lied to quite a lot of people no matter how well-intentioned it was, so yes.

............Fine. Though I would like to point out, for the record, that this was Cyrus's idea.

I'm a... relative of Cynthia's. I like history, battling, and making things myself so that I don't have to support Pokemarts. They/them or he/him, it doesn't much matter to me.

And what would you like Rotomblr to call you?

Does it matter? I won't be here for long.

You will be answering the questions of those you lied to, so yes.

If you insist, then... call me Volo.

[captain-hawks]

Dee my beloved!! I missed you so very much these past couple of weeks! I have post notifications for you turned on so every time I got a lil notification from you I would be like c: when I saw your url and then :c bc I was usually too distracted/busy to come on here esp bc I need a laptop for the level of word vomit I usually conjure up for your precious thoughts and words.

I hope you're feeling better, so sorry to hear you were sick. I spent 20 hours making over 2 gallons of noodle soup and all its accoutrement for my bf's surprise bday party so I'm virtually sharing it with you. It's a bun rieu with plenty of Dungeness crab topped with lots of fresh veggie and herbs and homemade crab meatballs and herby fish paste and lil porky meatballs.

Did you do anything fun over labor day/are you prepping for fall in any way? I'm switching out my candlessss even though it is still a hellscape where I am and will feel like living on the surface of the sun until November.

I missed your AMA so can I ask now? What's the most embarassing thing that's happened to you in recent memory? Bc I flew home for a wedding and although it was for the son of beloved family friends (the son i also consider a brother figure), some people should not get schwasty in public bc the father of the groom came over loudly proclaim/lament that he wished *i* was becoming his daughter in law instead. At his son's wedding to a very sweet lady I adore. Five separate times. With people all around. I wanted to return 2 the sea. I wanted to be left alone in a corner with the 6 ebooks I had downloaded. I literally hid in a restroom for 75 minutes and risked everybody thinking I had The Shits just so I could get some peace to myself.

Anyways, before I go I am going to leave you with some of the final product of the cake I was telling you about that I was testing different components for. I really wish I could actually share with y'all instead of just telling you and cate about it in chats but until wonkavision is invented I'll pretend sending a pic is the same thing. I settled on double vanilla brown butter cake/pickled cayenne strawberry compote/yuzu and lemon curd liquid cheesecake/graham milk crumb. The layers didn't come out as cleanly as I'd hoped but I might try another one with white and yellow peaches (macerated? Cooked into a jam or Japanese style syrup?) and a Mango curd to squeeze every last bit of summer fruit season out.

If kita-non is around and for some reason bothers to read my inane prattle can i pls share a slice with u too. The couple times I got to skim your thoughts these past few weeks I was spending time offline I wanted to give your brain a big ole squeeze. Just lookin' at the pair of you with hearts in my eyes like look at u guys go torturing us with sweet sweet kita thoughts. We can pretend he supplied the fruits used in the cake ❤

I'M SO HAPPY YOU'RE BACK 😭🫶!!!!!

i was still feeling quite cruddy over labour day weekend, but i DID go hunt down the CVS puffer jacket snoopy plushie....a personal accomplishment 😂 (he was hard to find!). also i’m planning to bust out my giant totes of halloween decorations this weekend!!! my fall candles are staring at me adoringly from the closet ready to take over.

I AM SO SORRY FOR YOUR MISFORTUNE????? i cannot believe. i, too, would have called the bathroom my new home to never be perceived again. (has anyone informed sober!dad of his big drunk mouth????)

so this is secondhand embarrassment until i come up with a better story BUT i was on a zoom meeting at work today, and a man was pitching software to my boss & i. said man realized 40 minutes in that the software actually isn’t even available in my geographical region and thus he had completely wasted our time. i watched his soul leave his body through the screen. the most awkward goodbye followed.

also if i magically appear in your pocket at some point like a tiny creature with its hands out begging for food, it’s because every time you describe something you’ve made, i yearn like no tomorrow. that soup sounds divine?? AND THE CAKE!!!!! THE CAKE!!!!!!!! it’s beautiful. it puts other cake to shame. i will dream of this cake. it will haunt me.

[halowritesthings]

i love learning about things a week late through youtube recommendations from random channels i've never seen before

(bad grammar and typos cause i'm shooting my shot as fast as possible so I can get back to Important Adult Stuff(TM))

i suppose i can't really gripe because i'm still largely logged out and wouldn't have heard otherwise so maybe I should take it for what it is

i know i'm a random person who writes as a hobby so I don't necessarily "owe" anything to people online, but y'all have been so sweet to me and I feel it would be unfair to keep dropping off the face of the planet like I have been, plus, I have been stewing over quite a bit of my thoughts these past few months and making a large "get all my thoughts out in a word vomit" post is a good way to A.) sort out my shit and B.) to procrastinate homework

college is BEATING MY ASS and i'm not even at the harder junior/senior year type stuff so even if my writer's block wasn't the worst it's ever been I highly doubt I would be writing anything anyway. i cannot say for certain when I'll be able to get back (it seems the universe is tailored specifically to punch me in the face whenever I have the slightest inclination to do so) but i will say it is always on my mind. i don't ever want to give up writing fully because of how many good things it's brought me but i want to be mature and say that it has taken a backseat in my life.

i still don't regret the things I've created and i will always be thankful for the experiences I've had + the friends I've made (even if we haven't talked in a while :') sorry guys) BUT this situation has just become the nail in the coffin for me in terms of what i want to do with my ds/mp and other adjacent fics. i can't say for certain what I'll go through and orphan/keep or just outright delete (WIPS/unfinished series will probably get deleted is what I've decided so far) so this is a BIG WARNING sign right here and now: if there are any ds/mp fics of mine you are fond of, please go and save them now. even if you think the one you really love is "safe" it's better to be cautious and have it yourself than hope for the best outcome.

now's a good time to mention that i have been feeling similar feelings toward my fl0wer husb4nds fics (gonna come out and be honest: i don't particularly care for sc0tt anymore, sorry) so if you like those you should also search them out. i think a hard majority if not all of them will be orphaned, so they'll still be up, but it never hurts to be able to read something while offline anyway

however, due to the aforementioned Important Adult Stuff(TM), i won't be able to get to the whole Properly deleting/orphaning process for a hot minute. that does not mean you should put off saving my fics because my brain could decide one night that i HAVE to do it IMMEDIATELY, but i can promise that it's not happening tonight (might hold off for at least a week just to give people time to see this post).

TSALP, my pride and joy, is perfectly safe and fine. when i think about whenever ill be able to write again, this series is the First thing to pop up in my mind. i have so many things i want to do with that series (and h3rmitcr4ft as a whole) that make me smile despite all that has happened surrounding mc/yt. someone will need to threaten me with death to make me even consider giving that up. hell, even taking a step back, i can say that i will never fully let go of mc/yt. i straight-up have tickets to go see tommy's america show later this month (send my dad well wishes as he's the one taking me LMAO) .

remember to drink water, take breaks, tell your friends you love them etc. I'm terrible at giving advice since I'm a bonafide mess of a person, but i will say that the best thing you can do for each other is support one another. i've always been a bigger fan of giving support to those who are hurt than trying to go and cause more pain to the people that you can argue "deserve" it. the people you care about are going to be with you much longer than the assholes, so be sure to put more energy into focusing on them than the ones that don't even deserve your scorn.

[blackypanther9]

Hey are you ever gonna do Marvel stuff again?

And are you ever gonna open requests again?

You don't really write stuff like you used to and I think we all really miss that, fanfiction has kinda just become lackluster (not yours I'm talking in general) lately there's barely any fanfiction for anyone except female readers and most people don't write stuff the way u do.

I miss that stuff so much...

I understand this is ur blog and you can write whatever you want and stuff but I just wanted to ask and let you know that we miss it.

Sorry for bothering you. Have a good day.

Hi there!

I am unsure. I DO have some old Marvel Loki x Reader stuff BUT I am barely home to look it over to be honest and usually I am happy that I can kick out at least SOMETHING. I am mentally also not very okay, still in slight depression. I am still just going with the flow of how I am feeling and just write about characters I just feel like to write about. I have more favourite stuff to write about than Marvel and I wrote Marvel for quite a while. On top of all this I am trying very hard to work ahead of many Fanfics I do right now, because we are planning on moving to my cat soon, so I will be offline for a long while soon. It is planned that we will move on Janurary. It is also snowing a lot, so we have to drive to my cat, take care of her and then shove a lot of snow away (it is -6°C here). And in the house I have no internet whatsoever.

TvT

My life is not very easy at the moment, I mean I am pretty silent for a while now, because of all of this. I am way more busy than I used to and I just KNOW that it won't change for a while. I have no clue when I will be back online after we moved, I have no clue if I write Marvel soon again, I have no clue when I will feel better again and I have no clue of what might happen 2024.

Sadly my Tumblr blog is not my life. QvQ

I am already looking of what I can do and I am planning to continue two books, that I didn't find all that cringe of my Marvel stuff, but because of lack of time and my mental health, I am slow.

I hope that answered everything. ^^

I am not angry. Sorry I replied so late I didn't get proper sleep this whole week, so f me... TvT

I understand it is frustrating to only see fem!Reader x Male!Character Fanfics. My consolation. TvT I see that with the new William Afton x Reader fics too. There just aren't many that do this whole stuff anymore. Q-Q

So imma leave now. ^^ Bb. Feel free to ask more, if you wanna.

Have a good day/evening. ^^

[byunbaekhyunie]

hiii, how are you? I'm so sorry if this is annoying but, what happened? what was Baekhyun talking about in his live? I watched a bit of it and he seemed tired and upset but I don't speak Korean so I couldn't understand what he was talking about :( only caught SM and EXO sometimes. Please forgive me if I'm asking something dumb, I just don't really use Twitter and you're like my go-to blog for Baekhyun (I love your blog BTW!!)

thank you so much in advance!!

hi (..◜ᴗ◝..) sorry for the delay !! I had to get offline last night cause I was really too upset and it was also my bedtime so sorry I couldn’t get back to you faster :c I think you might be caught up to speed by now but just in case you aren’t, I’ll try to give a short summary of what happened, to my understanding at least, but even I am missing some context pieces bc I do not and will not seek out speculative, slanderous articles/forum posts abt baekhyun like I refuse to do that so idek how some of these things got brought up to the public attention but here’s what what little I did pick up, but mostly what baekhyun said

he came on live to clarify rumors that had started going around earlier that day and addressed 4 points in particular

1. the legal dispute that he took part in, along with jongdae and minseok, back in May. he didn’t say very much regarding that topic, he was so courteous and didn’t say one bad thing abt SM honestly he was so nice

2. the new company. so from what I gathered, yesterday it got leaked that baekhyun was starting his own company, and that’s I think the largest factor that pushed him to come out and clear the air cause speculations started ramping up like crazy. baekhyun confirmed that he is in the process of setting up a company with kasper and that it is done with SM’s approval, he will still be a part of the company and a part of EXO

3. his new house and the loan he took. ok so you might know that news broke out last week that baekhyun bought a new house. and… apparently, again idk who leaked this information or where but, it got out that baekhyun has taken out a very large loan and ppl got angry over it… I guess(?) honestly I don’t feel very comfortable talking abt this, it feels weird to me discussing smth that is quite frankly none of our business, but anyway baekhyun said that he took it to hold himself accountable in a way and put pressure on himself to achieve success with his company, and that he’s paying everything back and that he doesn’t understand how that’s an issue and honestly neither do I so .

4. and finally, his 4th solo album. talking abt this is reigniting my boiling rage, but I guess ppl where saying that he lost his path bc he’s not currently working on his next solo project and baekhyun said that he wants to do things correctly and it doesn’t feel right rn working on an album while also setting up smth as big as his own private company and that he’s sorry for keeping us waiting and not being able to go on tour and see us and that breaks my heart the most I won’t bore you with my personal output but I seriously need ppl to leave him alone I swear since he’s been back from the military ppl have been at his neck trying to get him for everything that he does and he….

anyway that’s more or less what happened ^^; and you’re not dumb or annoying for asking !! thank you so much for enjoying the blog (˶˃̵ ^ ˂̵˵) ♡

[iwozlegit]

Hey hey!

Wishing you the best right now and that your pillow is nice and fresh every time you lay your head on it ♡

Haven't been seeing you or your posts around lately, but I know life gets quite busy, so I'm hoping that isn't too hectic for ya!

Love ya to death and please take care ♡♡

Answering ~

|| 🍍• This has been in my askbox for a fair few weeks - I’m sorry I’m only answering this now!

Life got pretty intense online and then, while taking a wee break, offline life as well wasn’t much better. Just my luck everything happened at once. I always want to make sure I’m my best self, or closet to my best self, when I’m appearing on here - that’s just a personal preference of mine - so taking time away really helped me process things that had happened and were going on externally and then come back as transformers unhinged as ever! Everything is back to normal and happy here so all is well :D

Thank you for reaching out though, I hope you’re doing well also! 💛

[rottiens]

hello hello:D i’ve had such a busy day again today, but i’m here now:)

aww, of course! thank you thank you too :3 i meant everything i said:)

ooh, it rained a little here earlier too! i was out, but it wasn’t that strong so thankfully i didn’t get too wet.

i adore rainy days, cold wether is my absolute fave! i do like summer, but i don’t like the heat unfortunately, as it makes me feel really claustrophobic for some reason 😭 i love the sound of rain tho, it’s so soothing and cozy!

and i bet! i’m glad it got cooler for you:)

omg omg i’m so so excited for your fic! no pressure though, take your time and i very much look forward to it 🤍

and ooh a new book? i hope you enjoy reading it! i haven’t read in quite a while because i need to get my eyes tested, but i’m hoping i can get back into it soon as it’s so calming!

and ofc! my start to this week has been pretty good so far! it was my sisters birthday today.(i’m genuinely so sorry for my late reply btw 🙏😭)

i took her over to a park for a bit, that’s when it started raining unfortunately 😭 but i didn’t mind as i promised her and i love the rain anyway >ᴗ<

i was hoping to have another go at baking today, but i was too tired and it got late, but hopefully i can tomorrow!

the first time i tried baking it the other day it was so yummy! but then i tried again another day and it wasn’t as nice, it was a bit more dry. and it’s strange because the first time i just eyeballed it 😭 so maybe i need to try making it that way again 🤔

oh and i tried making caramel too the other day but.. it was an absolute disaster 😭 it stunk so bad as well because i burnt it. but i can always try again:)

i hope you’ve had a great start to the week and a lovely day too! thank you for asking about mine, you are seriously so so sweet and kind! i really appreciate it 🤍

about feeling claustrophobic because of the heat you are so right :( sometimes i feel like i drown in my own clothes no matter how light they are so i can relate, actually where i live it's always hot and it's much worse in summer so i don't like that season at all.

and it's nice when it's raining and you're at home but it's uncomfortable when you have to go out like this (it rained again today! hehe) so I hope you don't get wet and don't forget to carry your umbrella <3

oh no :c it's very uncomfortable to read when you need glasses, i wear too so i understand it can be especially annoying for your eyes so don't push yourself to do it. plus you can always get audiobooks which has been my choice lately so it doesn't tire my eyes so much. on the other hand, i'm so glad you got to spend time with your sister and enjoy her birthday 🤍 and i'm also so glad the rain didn't ruin your day in the park

And about cooking and baking and caramel 😭 omg experience with caramel reminded me of the first time i tried to make it and it turned out horrible, since then i haven't tried it again but i think part of everything in life and especially in cooking is from failure and learning. i think to get to the perfect recipe or the perfect taste you have to damage many meals and burn some foods lol, so don't give up <3 at first it took me a lot to learn to cook but now i'm getting better at every dish i make and i know with you the same will happen

Sending you a tight hug and really glad to hear you had a great start to a great week ! I had problems with my internet so I was basically offline all day lol and I'm trying to catch up now, I have work piling up and tasks to do but nothing that a positive attitude won't fix ^^

[deviantartdramahub]

Do you seriously expect me to provide evidence to support my claim? Are you kidding me right now? How dare you have the audacity to suggest such a request! It's absolutely hypocritical of you to even think that I would comply with such nonsense. Are you seriously the one (Tri) who lets users (Gellygirl) spew sexist remarks at those who block her? It's not because she blatantly ignored what I was trying to explain to her, but because she had the audacity to fabricate nonsense about me being "pro"? Where the hell is this supposed evidence to connect the two of us as one person? What the hell is wrong with you? Can't you see that there's absolutely nothing here? Open your damn eyes and stop wasting my time with your pointless observations! I demand that the owner of this blog immediately remind her members to show some respect for the rules and stop trying to exacerbate the situation they themselves ignited.

While I have absolutely no problem doing so, I would also like to point out that Pro is going through a really rough time due to his mother dying last week, so yeah, Gellygirl. I was furious about you running your mouth and talking down to me. But listen here; you clearly didn't comprehend a single word I said. I never, not even once, declared myself a pro. And let me make this crystal clear: there is absolutely no chance—I repeat, no chance whatsoever—that you could even begin to compare the two of us as if we were some kind of unified entity. Why, you ask? Well, it's quite simple, darling. The reason is that you don't have the faintest clue about who I am. So, before you go making assumptions, maybe try using that tiny brain of yours to actually understand what I'm saying. Got it, sweetheart? Get offline and do your homework like a good child, you impudent jerk!

And NO, I am absolutely NOT going to get Pro to create another account, because it's painfully obvious that you're just itching for a fight, and you simply can't handle the fact that he has already thoroughly thrashed your sorry behind multiple times!

Evidence to what we supposedly said is all. The same rules apply to everyone. I never saw any explicit sexism from anyone here yet. I cannot help issues of identity though when the person asking is anonymous. In any case, please be respectful and not belittle anyone if you wish this to be resolved. Be like these birds and chill.

[theoathkeeper]

Riku’s here...

[nordic-language-love]

Hi there! I'm thinking of starting tutoring on italki but I'm super nervous about it and would love to hear how you've been finding it. I have a TESOL qualification and currently tutor kids in-person as a casual job, but I want more experience (and also would love to supplement my income a bit).

Is it difficult/time-consuming creating lesson plans for each student? Are there any tips you have about lesson prep? What was the biggest challenge you faced when you first started out?

Sorry this is a lot of questions f(^_^;

Hi! Sorry for the slow response - I had a LOT to say about this! I'm gonna put it under a read more because it got far too long lmao

Teaching on italki is very rewarding in my experience. That's not to say it's a breeze all the time, but I have more good experiences than bad for sure. There's a huge market for teaching children English on italki too, so if that's your specialisation then you should be able to get plenty of classes (note that Chinese parents are unable to book classes listed as kids classes bc it's illegal in China to seek online tutors for children under 12, but that doesn't stop them by any means lol).

When I first started I struggled a lot because I had no experience, no idea how to plan lessons and no bank to pull on. Nowadays it's less time-consuming because I already have a lot of my own materials, so I can reuse them or tweak them slightly and I don't make as many things from scratch. But I'm always updating my material as I learn what works and trying to improve my lessons, so it's still time-consuming (but a lot of that's due to my poor time management skills rather than it actually taking that long to put together a lesson plan). It depends on what kind of teacher you are though; many teachers just focus on conversation practice and don't have many (or any) materials at all.

I'd say my biggest challenge though was not knowing how to pitch my lessons at the right level. I ended up subscribing to Linguahouse to get worksheets (which I normally use as starting points for creating my own lesson plans rather than using the worksheets themselves) so that I had more of an idea of what I was doing. Engoo is also a good website for finding news articles suitable for B1-B2 level students (they claim to be up to proficient level, but honestly I think even their level 10 articles are C1 at best). Again, I mostly use it for reference or if I have lots of lessons to plan and I need something quick (because using free resources that students can look up themselves feels a bit cheeky to me).

Some general tips:

1) You'll want to set your prices low to start with. It doesn't matter how much experience you have offline; when people are browsing profiles, they'll see only see the number of lessons you've taught on the platform. You can increase them quite quickly, but remember that number of lessons really counts when people are making a decision choosing a tutor.

2) Because your prices are low, you're going to get some shitty students at first. By that, I mean you get students who aren't prepared to do the work but expect to become fluent in 2 weeks because they're ~PaYiNg FoR a TuToR~. They never last long. Just give them the best lesson you can, be as encouraging and enthusiastic (but also realistic) as possible and wait for them to drop off.

3) Be prepared to be a little flexible with your schedule to start with. I said I wasn't going to work after 4pm or before 6:30am and Tuesday would be my day off. I then ended up teaching 6am-9pm on Tuesdays. After a while, I concluded that teaching before 7am just wasn't for me, and it certainly wasn't something I wanted to do regularly, so I took those slots off my calendar. I also found Wednesdays weren't a popular day, so I made that my day off and now I stick to it. If I'd stuck to my original plan, I wouldn't have a lot of my current students. (This is the problem with working for yourself: on paper you get to set your own hours, but in practice you have to work whatever hours gets your the most customers).

4) Plan breaks in your calendar. You need food and bathroom trips, as well as time to recharge your brain! Some people leave their calendar completely open and then remove slots as they get booked up (e.g. if they're teaching 1-3:30pm and then 4-6pm, they might remove 3-3:30 from their calendar to make sure they get a break in that time). I prefer to have them already pre-planned so I don't have to update my schedule every day. Either way, don't let yourself wind up teaching for 6 hours on the trot.

5) Do not assume that the language level on their profile corresponds to their actual level! Some people list themselves as A1 despite being C1/C2, and some people list themselves as native speakers despite being barely A2. If they say they're B1/B2 then that's more accurate, but it still doesn't help much because those levels are so broad. I always send them a message asking about their goals/current level (sometimes their response is less than helpful, but usually you'll get some idea of what they want.)

6) Use the trial lesson to assess their level, but make sure it's not just a needs assessment. I watched a bunch of "how to run a trial lesson" videos on Youtube, and lots of them were just like "interrogate your student about their English level and studies" and while that's all important and good information, your students are much more likely to rebook if you give them a demonstration of what your lessons are like. I usually plan a trial lesson based on what the student's goals etc are. If they don't respond to my message or don't give me enough information, my trial lesson looks like this:

Start with general pleasantries/introductions and a little small talk (how are you? How is your week? What's the weather like?)

I then ask them why they want to improve their English, a bit about how they study at the moment (do they read books? Watch TV shows?) and what do they find most difficult/want to improve most. I also ask how they prefer to be corrected (should I interrupt them or wait until the end of class?)

I tell them I want to assess their level so I know what our starting point is. I then bring up a PDF with 4 pictures related to either the city (if I think they're low B1 or lower) or sleep (if I think they're high B1+) and ask them to describe their pictures. I might prompt them to say more (what season do you think it is? What time of day is it? Why do you think that? Where are those people going? What are they wearing?) I always try to suggest one or two words they could use so that they feel like they learned something.

The next slide is agree/disagree statements (e.g. it's better to live in the country than the city), and we discuss the statement and what we think. (I'm actually going to update this so it's more like advantages/disadvantages questions because I've noticed that some people don't like discussing their opinions. It's a big part of the IELTS test though, which is kinda what I based it on to start with).

Then I ask them if they have any questions/what else they would like to do in classes. I leave at least 5 minutes for this part.

If I have time left over, I ask them what they'll do later/for the rest of the week and just make a little small talk about that.

7) Keep a document with details about your students. Because you will forget shit (especially if you have students with the same name/other similar details), and it doesn't look very good if you forget for the third lesson in a row what they do for a living or where they live. It also helps you keep track of what you've studied and what resources you've used with each student so that you don't end up redoing exercises you've already done.

8) Google docs are great! Start one for each student and use it to keep track of new vocabulary, corrections and homework (if you choose to set it - not everyone wants it, and it's extra work for you to do too. I only set it if people ask for it).

9) People might offer to pay you outside of italki. This would mean more money because italki isn't then taking a 15% commission, but it's against italki's policy and I never do for fear of being caught (eg if I have a dispute with a student who's started paying me outside of italki, they could report me to italki and I'd get banned from the platform). Of course, you can do what you like! But if you get asked and would prefer not to take the risk, here's what I say:

"Thanks for the offer, but I prefer you booking the lessons through italki. It helps me keep track of all my lessons. Also, I hope to work in a school someday, and it will help a lot if I have a high number of lessons taught on my italki profile. I'm very happy that you offered though!"

10) Check out other people's videos on youtube about how they run their classes and what tips they have. Not all of them will apply to you - you have to figure out your own style! - but it's good to have some ideas. I really like English Teacher Ryan's videos.

11) Don't bullshit if you don't know something. Just say you're not sure, but you'll look it up and get back to them. Chances are your students will find grammar loopholes and complications you never knew English had and will come to you asking why this person used the past simple when according to your last lesson it should have been a present perfect etc.

12) If you're teaching grammar, revise it before the lesson. And revise it from lots of different resources too, because different resources will say different things, and you want to know that grammar inside out.

Okay, I think that's enough of an essay now! I hope some of it was helpful 😅 Good luck! I'm sure you'll be awesome 😊

[hesokuri-wars]

Are you guys alright? Like, personally? I'm worried about you :[

✨I can only speak for myself, but I’m alright! Sorry to have just vanished without a word. I honestly didn’t intend to and always hoped I’d get back into the swing of this

Last year I started a new job that is really physically and sometimes emotionally exhausting. I’m very happy there!! But I also have 2 part time jobs on top of that, so I’m just a wee bit burnt out and tired lmao

I've been Chronically Offline for a while, not just here; working 5-7 days a week without weekends or holidays means my free time is quite limited. And yeah, that free time has not included Heso at all, so I really can’t answer any questions about the game from the last year even when I am rarely around :/

So like... when will I come back? Will I come back? Big shrug. I do love the game and this community, I just don’t have the energy for it like I used to. So don't get your hopes up, I guess. Sorry

(And yes, I literally can't figure out how to format my mod icon into this post ✌😎✨)

💙Mod Kara

(Actually, it's great that you don't have a mod icon, because I can't be bothered myself to recover my own batch of icons for this post. This is good.)

Heeey, anon. It's super sweet of you to have sent in this ask, so I thank you for your concern. To answer your question, I'm doing fine, too. Like Mod Kara, I've got a job as well, but unlike her, I'm as online as ever, so what's my excuse?

Well, I haven't exactly touched anything Heso-related in... since the last time I posted actual Heso news, whenever that was. At one point, I sort of just stopped opening up the game and mostly left things up to Mod Kara. Truth be told, it's been a long time since I've actively been interested in Heso for a variety of reasons, ranging from my issues with the game itself, my current dedication to other interests, and the admittedly less-than-ideal way that I perceive this blog that I've owned for the past 5 years.

I'm aware that my explanation isn't as... justified as Mod Kara's. She's not active because she genuinely has too much on her plate at the moment, while I'm not active for reasons that can essentially be boiled down to I Don't Want To. Because of that, I do feel some degree of guilt for not being around for people who follow this blog, so I'm not going to bother defending myself. All I can really say without going full-blown TMI is that there are a handful of different factors that contribute to my lack of motivation, and I simply can't take responsibility for a long-term help blog when I'm like this.

Does that mean I'm quitting, or does that mean I'll be back one day? I'll just repeat what Mod Kara said above: Big shrug. I've learned a long time ago that I'm wildly inconsistent, so I'd feel like I'm lying if I committed to one particular resolution right now. And thus... I guess you could say this is a really belated hiatus announcement?

(inb4 anyone asks if we can just get new mods on board: that would be the obvious solution, but those things have only led to mods being cyberstalked. out of the question.)

~Mod Ichi (I’m sorry if I’m late!) As for me... it’s really been a mixture of things! I’ve made a lot of big steps in my life and I’ve gotten a lot more busy at work now that I’ve taken on more roles. I also recently got married so that’s awesome! (Planning the reception party has been so stressful aaa...) My wife and I are also looking to move into a new place soon, so that has also been taxing.

But to be honest, it’s also because on my end, like Mod Ichi, I’ve also been interested in other things. Between work, my social obligations and my other hobbies, my attention has been pulled in a million different directions. I feel really bad and I’m sorry to all of the folks who still follow the blog and look for news / updates.

But all the same, thank you always to everyone for all of your support. It means a great deal and it’s very sweet of you to check on us. ~ 💚 Mod Choro

[starglitterz]

hIII i havent been online bc im having exams rn T_T they'll end next week on the 17th tho :D these are quite important bc they're the mocks for my final exams in may LSKDSKJ,,, sorry for always randomly going offline :(

but anyways! do keep posting your fics for the collab event, i'll link them all to the main post (which is also the masterlist like in my fluffvember event) when i come back next week !! for now there's a thoma fic coming out tonight winks cutely

also i'm 6 papers down, 14 to go, so wish me luck hehe <3 !!