#ANY of my computer documents to look at for reference and notes means i'm ?? actually??? writing whatever the fuck out of order scenes

[windwardstar]

The time between finishing a chapter and waiting for betas to look over it so I can post it is like the days between christmas and new years where reality doesn't exist and you get to do whatever you want

[tiredandoptimistic]

thisisnotawebsitedotcom.com complete "riddle" questions and answers

When I first started looking through lists of keywords for thisisnotawebsitedotcom.com, I was confused by a bunch of them which, when entered, produced questions which seem completely unrelated to their trigger phrases. I realized that all the prompts are answers to other questions, meaning it's possible to put them in order and create a complete test. I doubt I'm the first to figure this out, but I still think it's super cool, so here's all the questions and how to find their answers!

(Apologies in advance for the photo quality, they're all described in alt text).

First, you enter the code "RIDDLE" to get "WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY A GAME?" which to me is proof that Bill at least has decent taste in movies.

Next, you can either type "NO" or "YES," to get either "YOUR LOSS..." or "WHAT"S MCGUCKET'S FAVORITE SODA"

The answer to this question is "MOUNTAIN DON'T," and while I swear I remember reading this someplace, I can't find the actual source.

Once you enter it, you get the question "WHAT'S A MEDIEVAL HOMONYM?"

Which can be found in the Dark Ages pages of The Book of Bill, in the border of the illuminated manuscript:

"LYRE LIAR"

"Anti-Cipher Tonic" appears near the end of the "Anti Cipher Society" pages, complete with an ingredients list:

The twentieth of which is "Harold's Ramblings"

When you enter it you get another question to which I cannot find the source of the answer, but going off the list of phrases that've been found, I'm guessing it's "UNION MADE"

Bill's government file can be found on the page about the 1940s, and is labeled with:

A number which gets you:

Okay and I swear this is the last one I can't show my work on, but wherever you find it the answer is "Grebley Hemberdreck"

A reference to the picture of Bill celebrating the bubonic plague on the Dark Ages page.

And that funky little rodent gives you:

A reference to Thurburt Mudget Waxstaff III of the Anti-Cipher Society and his eventual fate of being institutionalized:

Once you enter his number, you get a question about tracks in the snow:

Which is answered on Ford's missing journal pages about winter in Gravity Falls:

The tinsel snake gets you "THE 6TH OPTION ON BILL'S EDITING SOFTWARE?"

Which can be found on the page where Bill designs a cover for his book:

The sixth option, "Torture Mentally," leads to:

Which is yet another reference to the Dark Ages, and Bill's adventures with the wizard Xgqrthx the Unpronounceable.

Whose name produces:

An address which is provided on the 1990s Tri Angels page, in the mail order form:

Said address takes you to:

To answer this question, you need to do a little more digging around the website. When you enter the code "NAITSUAF," you get a letter from Bill attempting to recruit you into his MLM soul-selling scheme, complete with this note from his lawyer:

And once you enter the name "MULTILEVEL MARK," you get the final question:

(For some reason I haven't figured out, "CAESAR ATBASH VIGENERE" produces the same result as "MULTILEVEL MARK," so that's one way to skip to the end I guess).

Silas Birchtree is referenced in The Book of Bill on the Cults page:

But his full story isn't revealed until you enter "STOD EHT TCENNOC" on the website.

The whole document is definitely a worthwhile read, but there's really only one aspect that's relevant to our purpose:

It was Emmaline Butternubbins who killed Silas Birchtree (again) in 1952! And when you enter her name into the computer, it tells you that you've finally earned a treat. Huzzah!

(Interestingly to me a least, "EMMALINE BUTTERNUBBINS" and "BUTTERNUBBINS" both work as codes, but "EMMALINE" does not. I guess Bill's not on a first name basis with her).

Anyways, once you enter "DISPENSE MY TREAT," a folder is downloaded onto your device which is full of text-free versions of art from The Book of Bill, which you can use for desktop wallpapers or any other nefarious purposes your mind can conceive of.

I hope you've enjoyed going on this journey with me, because I've sure spent an amount of time on it.

[copperbadge]

What do you mean by digital cleaning?

It's something I've been working on more this year because I had a bit more travel than usual so couldn't do actual home cleaning, but I always take a couple of days in the Month Of Cleaning where I'm focused on my digital life. It's good to make your physical home a comfortable place for yourself, but it's also good to recognize that we have "digital" homes that need attention. And often this is at least less physically demanding, so it's good to keep it in your back pocket for days when you're mentally okay but physically too tired or sore to do more of that kind of work.

In the shortest possible terms, digital cleaning is just making sure that your phone, computer, socials, and other digital "presences" are organized in a way that you find helpful, and that you take a moment to either answer those messages you've been putting off or give yourself amnesty on doing so.

This tends to make a lot of people extremely anxious in a way ordinary physical space cleaning doesn't, so I'm going to put the rest of it behind a cut...

So when I say digital cleaning, I refer to stuff like going through my likes on Tumblr and clearing them out, going through my drafts and turning them into queued posts, answering my asks. I spend time in my email inboxes, either responding to messages or removing them. I am not an "inbox zero" kind of guy, but I like to keep the read-but-not-answered messages to a minimum, and towards the end of the year that usually means a clear-out and amnesty. I clean my Google Drive -- delete old files I uploaded for others, move documents I'm no longer using into an archive, move documents I want to work on into a central work folder. I go through my catch-all folder on my hard drive and organize it; I sort through the year's photos and organize those, partly to archive them and partly because I make a scrapbook from them each year. I don't usually have a ton of tabs open but often have more than I'd like, so I go through them all and either read, bookmark, or get rid of them.

I look in my phone's file tree to make sure I delete files I don't need (mostly menu downloads, Restaurants Stop Making Your Menus PDFs Challenge 2K24) and I sometimes go through each app on my phone, make sure I still use it, and make sure it's set how I want it. If this sounds like a nightmare, bear in mind that I very rarely put apps on my phone to start with -- I think my mother has more apps open at any given time than I have apps on my phone ever.

Everywhere I clean, I look for files named things like "notes" or "deal with" or "random" and move them all into one place so that whatever is in them, I can sort through it and make sure it goes somewhere permanent. Logins go in the login/password spreadsheet I keep, addresses go into my contacts, story notes go into a "fiction scraps" file, random thoughts either get moved into a journal file or put into drafts to become Tumblr posts, etc.

If this sounds like I might have some kind of compulsion disorder, I get that; when I explain my digital hygiene systems a lot of people look at me like I'm spouting a mad but harmless conspiracy theory. But it's something I used to have to do periodically even before I created National Clean Your Home Month, because otherwise I could never find anything, and everything was just...harder. As I once told a boss who admired my organizational skills, "It was this or endless chaos."

Putting addresses into my contacts list means I always know that the addresses I have for my friends are up to date. Putting logins into a spreadsheet means that five minutes spent now will not result in five weeks of procrastination later because I can't find the login and can't do anything else until I do that. Going through my email and archiving old conversations means not only can I find them easily when needed, I don't have to look at them the rest of the time. Sometimes I even go through my various wish lists and remove old/purchased items, or clear out all my "save for later" carts.

There's no doubt this is stressful, but like every part of NaClYoHo, it's broken down into smaller tasks; I don't have to look at my computer and organize everything on it all in one day. I can answer a few asks, then sort photos (something I find very soothing up until the moment I Don't), then read and delete some emails, then I'm done for the day. I can spread "answer or file all your work emails" out over a couple of days. I can maybe empty out my Likes but just turn the ones I actually want to reblog into drafts for now and deal with them later in the "drafts" phase of cleaning. And if I don't manage to empty out my inboxes, at least they're emptier than they were.

I'm struggling this morning with having put a bunch of physical cleaning on the to-do list but not feeling physically up for it, so I did what I felt capable of doing (measuring cabinets for new shelf liners mainly) and later today I might sit down and start building this year's photobook. Or not -- I have to code Radio Free Monday, sort out a prescription and possibly go pick it up, plus a very full day of work and a couple of afternoon appointments I can't shirk, so today may simply be a "get through the day" kind of day. That's okay too; some days the spirit is willing but the schedule is full.

[kryptiq-kreachur]

Do you have tips on uploading trad art to tumblr and not having it look scuffed as all hell 😭😭😭 your art looks great pls share your secrets

Aaaa, thank you! I actually decided to shift my focus back to traditional art very recently and it means a lot to hear that ;; I hope this helps you and anyone else with similar questions!!

So I have two methods that I usually rely on when capturing my traditional art. The first one is kind of limited, but it is faster and more accessible. For these demonstrations, I'm going to use a colored sketch of my OC, Brinley. Step One: Taking Your Photo! All you'll need for the first method is your phone. What you want to do first is to find an area with nice, even lighting- the less warm, the less you'll have to correct later, so the closer to daylight, the better. In fact, using the light outside is a great way to capture your art! Note: If you are in a place with very cool lighting you will also have to correct the colors, but in my experience, cooler light is easier to work with. Position your artwork so it's illuminated with the light source directly in front of you. If it is behind you, it will be harder to get your shadow out of the shot. The spot I was in had my light source behind me, so my arm covered it a bit.

I repositioned myself to a spot with the light source in front of me instead, and I was able to get a nicer shot.

Keep your phone as level as possible over your drawing, and as close as possible without your phone going out of focus.

And now the first step is done! Step Two: Editing Your Photo! This is where everything starts to come together! Firstly, crop your drawing to your preference. I try to keep the negative space around my art as even as possible. IPhones have a handy feature where you can choose an even aspect ratio, so that will help keep things simpler if you want. Next, all you have to do is mess with the settings until you get it how you want it to look. Filters can help it to look more cohesive. I like to keep the art close by me to reference so I can get it to look as close to real life as possible. Note: black and white art is the easiest to edit due to the high contrast. Finished! Congrats! Your art is ready to post! Here's what my sketch looked like after I added a vivid filter and then messed with the settings.

The second method can be a bit more difficult, but the results always look better than just taking a photo. What you'll need is a computer (I think you can also use an ipad- any device will work as long as it can connect to the scanner), a scanner and any art/photo editing software. Step One: Scanning! The scanner I use is technically used for office work, but can be used to scan photos, therefore the quality is very much in the middle. There are scanners that are used purely for scanning high quality images of art and photography that will produce much better results on the initial scan, but this works just fine! There are also stores and other places where you can scan your work even if you don't own a scanner. First, make sure your art is as flat as possible and in the middle of the scanning bed. It doesn't have to be perfectly straight as it can be edited later, but if it isn't flat or it's on the edge of the bed, it will end up blurry in some areas or completely cut off. After that, go to your device and set the resolution to at least 300 dpi to guarantee a high quality scan, and then begin. This is what my sketch looked like after the initial scan.

Now we can move onto the next step! Step Two: Editing! You may have noticed that the colors are very washed out- scanners that aren't optimized for art and photos tend to do this, but with some editing, it'll look great! After opening it in CSP and selecting a canvas size, it's ready to edit! Note: Opening the image directly will automatically set the document's dpi to 72. Idk if that's a constant for other programs, but this means the overall image quality will be very low, so the picture has to be imported into a higher quality document with dpi set to 300 manually. I usually just copy and paste it into another document. Level correction is your friend! That's the correction layer I use the most when editing and it does the most heavy lifting, usually. After that, I sometimes edit the saturation. Since this is a digital method, you can edit your drawing however you want! You can fix some mistakes this way, or completely change things. There were notes and a sketch next to this drawing that i didn't want, so i painted over them with white- since i edited the level correction to up the exposure, the painted areas are indistinguishable from the background. Finally, I add either a gradient map for cohesion or fiddle with the tone curve until I'm happy with the final product. Once again, I like to keep the original art next to me while I'm editing for reference. (And then after that I might add a noise filter or some other effect, LMAO) Finished!! And now you have your scanned art!

These are all the editing layers I used!

Like with anything, trial and error are very important! You'll get better at editing art over time, so don't be discouraged if it doesn't look like you wanted it to the first time. Thank you for the ask, bye!!!!!!!

[silveredcircuitry]

This is long but there's a tl;dr at the end.

So I messed with this in Krita (The setting there is under Settings > Configure Krita > Color Management, same name). I didn't find any desaturation in my less-than-scientific tests, but I'm on Windows and some others have said it's less pronounced there.

The Krita ICC Profiles Documentation has some information on what each of these options actually do. I'll summarize and add some notes here:

Perceptual squishes the color space of the work file into that of the format you're exporting to. This preserves differences between colours but will distort and desaturate colours if you're exporting into a more restricted space. I'm guessing that's what's happening here, and that different (sometimes really bad) handlings of colour space + exporting are the reason for this issue.

Absolute Colorimetric "will attempt to retain all the correct colors at whatever cost, which may result in awful looking colors." It sounds like it could work a bit better for converting back into the original space, but I think handling inbound images is a separate setting.

Relative Colorimetric is in between the two above, trying to match colours as much as possible without messing up the relative appearances as much. Sounds good but execution is likely to vary.

Saturation retains the saturation values as much as possible, but this can come at the expense of hue changing, meaning it's not optimal for refs either if your personal colour space export fuckery also affects hue.

My point here is, the Perceptual setting isn't necessarily the problem on its own. I'm far from an expert but I'd say it's more of an issue with exporting into a more restricted space and the program not being able to put the colours back to their original state when you import the image again. You're squishing it and the program doesn't stretch it out again because it probably doesn't know if the file was squished or how.

I'm not sure why you're getting such a restricted space when you export it. That's weird and not covered by this setting. The "Expression Color" setting you mentioned might be what's fixing this or it might be a deeper issue with the mix of settings only acting as a bandaid fix. It could be a matter of your device's display settings and the program factoring them into decisions when you don't want them to do that.

Discord and Toyhouse are another matter entirely. If you're getting desaturated images there it's probably due to how they're handling images on their servers and there's less you can do. I'm surprised Toyhouse would be doing it to a noticeable extent, given its purpose, so I suspect it loops back around to whatever's going on with your device. Especially if it's the exact same effect as with perceptual on.

If it's only happening on those sites and not some others, you might have a workaround. I don't know whether Toyhouse allows external links as the source of your images, but if it does you could upload the images elsewhere and include them through links and see if that helps. Otherwise you might be able to just export them even more saturated until it looks right on your target. With some tweaking you may be able to find a constant amount and add a layer that oversaturates it that much. This will be an issue if you hit the ceiling for colours.

If there aren't any sites that aren't fucking with the colours again it's probably stuff your computer is doing to it before uploading.

ALSO! I don't know your workflow but you probably shouldn't be recursively saving/exporting your reference images in general. That's piling on the colour space conversions and every other form of degradation you get from conversions. I'd recommend using a work file as a colour reference (as in, the type of file you do the drawing in, with layers and such) and sticking to one rather than picking from recent drawings. I HOPE the work file isn't being affected by all this because if it is you need an exorcist.

TL;DR:

Perceptual Setting isn't the only issue

Saturation isn't a perfect fix

THAT level of colour change is really weird

It's probably related to stuff on your device/display settings

Perceptual crushes the colours and your program isn't turning it back to its old state

Uploading to a host site that doesn't fuck with the image as much and linking to it might work, if there are any sites that aren't fucking with it.

If nothing else works, oversaturating it to get it about where you want it with the reductions might work.

Don't recursively convert/save/export refs. Use a work file for that or use a png but don't overwrite the png from anywhere other than the work file to prevent excessive degradation.

Hope something here helps you out. This is a really bad situation and I hope one way or another you find a workaround.

Just to make a point, every time I finished a panel of this I would export it as a PNG on the perceptual setting and use it as a color reference for the next panel

IT'S BAD

PLEASE CHECK YOUR COLOR SETTINGS

EDIT: If you're still having problems, it might help to switch from "Save/Save as" to "Export (as a) Single Layer". Just. Make SURE the box labeled "Expression Color" is set to RGB. I've been messing with this all day, and it looks like this combination of settings will allow exported PNGs to maintain their colors perfectly. To you. So far both Discord and Toyhouse still only display desaturated images and I cannot for the life of me figure out why

[roswelldetails]

Episode 203:  Good Mother

Sorry so late this week!! I had a deadline for work that kept me away from this early in the week, and Tumblr has been mean tonight. Kudos to @tasyfa for helping me with some of the transcripts while I was stuck working!!

EPISODE SUMMARY:

Determined to regain control of her life in the aftermath of Noah’s death, Isobel (Lily Cowles) makes a risky choice despite its potential consequences.  Meanwhile, Alex (Tyler Blackburn) and Michael (Michael Vlamis) work together to unravel the mystery surrounding the night Nora’s (guest star Kayla Ewell) spaceship crashed in 1947. Elsewhere, Liz (Jeanine Mason) makes a surprising confession when Cameron (guest star Riley Voelkel) shows up looking for answers about Max (Nathan Dean).  Heather Hemmens, Amber Midthunder and Trevor St. John also star. Jeffrey Hunt directed the episode written by Deirdre Mangan & Carina Adly MacKenzie (#203.) Original airdate 3/30/2020.

DETAILS:

Aliens in the crash are always portrayed as wearing all white.  

There's also a silvery gleam on the faces of Nora and Louise following the crash.

Harlan Manes (first introduced in the alien autopsy scene in 1x07) and Hector Valenti (first mentioned in the pilot by Jesse Manes, but visually introduced here) are shown as having both a partnership and a difference in perspective, with Hector being more sympathetic to the aliens from the start - it mirrors what we know about Jim and Jesse's relationship.

Mysterious alien figure in white hood (probably played by Nathan Parsons, but unlikely to actually be Max (see @latessitrice meta) touches Nora's shoulder and she looks pained, then attacks and burns Hector alive, before disappearing into thin air.

Nora is shot in her shoulder.

Liz sent Alex to find Michael at the cave. 

The pods "regenerate cells at the same rate as they degrade" keeping them in stasis.  The theory of the electrical current is that it will speed up the regeneration so instead of stasis, Max might improve.

Searching for info about Nora led Alex to a sophisticated firewall, which meant that someone was trying to hide information about her.

Jenna's fake energy drinks are called "Speed Demon"

Mimi DeLuca says she was "nowhere" (and then she looks up at the stars). She was wearing the same nightgown and robe as when she disappeared (white...like the aliens in 1947), but instead of bare feet, she had on a pair of elaborate blue and white cowboy boots 

Jenna told Sheriff Valenti that Mimi recited the plot from the film Starship Troopers during the car ride into town "like she lived it", with all the voices, but did not provide any information about where she’d been.  Sheriff Valenti implies that this is typical behavior from Mimi.

Michael says he's been parked at the pony for a few weeks.  Maria says that Mimi was gone for a month. That means that another 2 weeks have passed. (I.e., Max has been dead for 6 weeks now.)

Maria says that they found her mom on I-40 (by the Roswell sign).  Also in 2x01 Rosa indicated that she and Liz were on I-40 when they saw Flint - Rosa put together that it was the most direct route to Area 51...however, I-40 does not go through Roswell.  In fact, it is over 100 miles from Roswell to I-40 (north on 285).  However, it is the most direct route to Area 51 from Roswell.

Isobel points out that Mimi DeLuca waking up in the desert with no memory is similar to what happened to her when Noah took over her body.  Michael doesn't believe that they are the same situation though.

Rosa is about to drink spiked coffee when Liz brings her the art supplies.  After Liz leaves, she pours it out without drinking it.

Isobel is packing up all of the photos of her and Noah (most look like vacation photos).  She hesitates on the photo of them with Max at the wedding that we previously saw in 2x01 at Noah's funeral.

Isobel's baby is now 7 weeks (consistent with the other time frames) and is now the size of a blueberry.

Isobel drinks the rest of the alien death serum and immediately gets cramps/pain in her womb.  And then Max's hallucination appears.

Isobel tells not!Max that she has been microdosing with the serum for weeks (2 weeks, based on the timeline) and it hasn't worked.

Not!Max does tell her to call Kyle (i.e, her subconscious knows she should, but she's not listening).

Michael tells Jenna that Max is in Mexico (at first).

Mimi is "hydrated and healthy" and she never felt unsafe.

She thinks she was only gone for a night, coming to see Maria when Jenna found her.

Maria asked Mimi whether Jenna lent the boots to her and Mimi declared they were hers

Liz is surrounded by monitors with alienesque symbols on them (or maybe just The Science!) See photo:

When the alarm sounds Liz looks at her computer screen and reacts - likely a security camera.

When Alex arrives at the Bunker and sees the binder left for him, the computers are on and there is a map showing.  See photo: 

I tried to figure out what city it is on his computer screen, but no luck. If anyone figures it out, send me an ask & let me know & I'll blast it out!

The 3-ring binder left for Alex, which looked approx. ¾ full with paper documents, was marked on the front:

CAULFIELD * A4N

352-6553 NMG

The text was white on a dark green background that appeared to be a printed label that had been affixed to the front of the binder. The body of the binder was light grey, with a partially shaded circular diagram in the lower center of the front that appeared to be part of the binder itself rather than a later addition like the label.

The Post-It note left on the binder for Alex said, "What side of history do you want to be on?"

There was also a marking on the spine of the binder: CF-143-3453-C78. This is probably a file or record reference, with CF standing for Caulfield. The reference would be visible when the binder was housed on a shelf, allowing easy identification.

When Alex flipped open the binder, the visible portion of the top page read as follows:

HEADQUARTERS

509th BOMB GP (NH)

ROSWELL ARMY AIR FIELD

ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Forwarded.

A07-06 (95)                                8 JULY 1947

AFTER ACTION REPORT

Serial

[blacked out text with underscoring] [TOP SECRET stamp]

From:        Lt. Colonel Payne Jennings, Roswell Army Air Field

Subject:    Engagement with enemy combatants, recovery of unidentified craft, night of 14-15 June, 1947, twelve casualties.

[offscreen] is a fine that concerns the events and

[offscreen] following the discovery of a flying saucer,

To:        Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force

[offscreen] dentified rancher notified

[offscreen] [blacked out text] that he found the instrument on

[offscreen] operations were coordinated with

[offscreen] with the intent of detaining or

[offscreen] while assisting in the inves-

[offscreen] reached the crash site

[offscreen] ing object’s entan-

[offscreen] balloon. Ship

[offscreen] of foreign

[offscreen] place

Liz explains The Science to Jenna:

"3 years ago I hypothesized that if I introduced a rare protein to destroyed stem cells they'd regenerate.  And I was right. My team in Denver brought dead cells back to life. Rat cells, but, I mean, still, the applications are immeasurable… until our study got shut down.  They said it's for ethics reasons, but I think it's because it threatened big pharma. Then a few weeks ago, Kyle found that the pods contain a sort of alien cousin to my regenerative protein.  When Max healed Rosa, his electric charge amplified the process. If we can replicate that, then, we can accelerate his recovery, so, I am testing out pig hearts to see…" discussion about pig hearts/human hearts/different kinds of smart…

Liz says she has a few hours before she has to "record the electromagnetic charge interval"

Jenna says that Liz reminds her of Charlie.

Charlie used to rant about gene therapy

Jesse says he requested no visitors until "his brain starts to follow his orders".

He keeps periodically hitting the morphine drip with Alex in the room, though he was ignoring it before Alex got there.

Jesse describes the opening scene of the episode. And then tells Alex "Tripp was never the same".

Rosa's art:

Among the quotes on her collage are:

Body drie up from ...

What did she say

You're no listening

Control her Take her power

I am the Mesa the mighty

Nothing but a muddy trickle

You can't hold us

Sandia

Between them... Damn... One day she'll…

East

Rosa hears Max call out to her (while awake) "Rosa! Help! You're the only one!"

Jenna says that her dad brought her and Charlie to Roswell when they were kids.  That they were obsessed with the crash and aliens and the X-Files and it was the perfect trip.  It's why she came to Roswell after leaving the military.   "It was like trying to go back in time, somehow."

"Time Travel really messed with you.  I am eight years older than my older sister.  She used to be my hero. She was kinetic, disruptive, cool.  Now that I'm an adult I'm pretty sure she's bipolar, and she needs help.  And if I try to save Max I'm letting Rosa twist in the wind, so, hence the wine ready in my drawer."

Maria is going through a box labeled "Mom's Stuff" in the Pony when she sees Rosa.

"I'm turning into my mom.  I lost time at the gala...Michael's hand...I'm seeing things!"

What Valenti says about Noah's death:

"The M.E., Dr. Holden, listed Noah's cause of death as cardiac arrest due to lightning strike. (note: cardiac arrest = heart attack.  Same way Max died.). No other abnormalities were listed. But that's not consistent with the crime scene photos. You see these ligature marks on his wrists and ankles. …. These marks are consistent with zip ties.  And these with struggling against police-issue handcuffs. Like Max's.".

Isobel blames it on their sex toys.

What Max said to the grocery clerk "¿Tienes carne sin preservativos?" (Meat without a condom).

About Max's nightmare:

"You remember when I used to come in and sleep on your floor?"

"You used to have a nightmare.  You were alone in a cold, dark room and there was something… You couldn't get up.  You were…"

"Chained to the floor.  I'd wake up all freaked out and run to your room."

Rosa's nightmare:

"I need your help, Rosa."

"Look, I'm not gonna help you die.  I have been drinking so that I don't dream."

"I know that."

"It's like you're getting stronger. I hear you now when I'm awake."

"You're right.  Something is making me stronger. I feel things. That's why I'm calling for you.  Something is wrong with Isobel. Even in the pod I sense it. She's dying. Please."

Liz thinks that Max was able to reach out to save Isobel because the electricity is making him stronger in the pod.

Maria confessed to her mother that she had thought she might be getting sick too, Mimi said Maria would not get lost because she was protected, and reached for the resin pendant with the anti-alien pollen flower that Maria was wearing as usual. When Mimi seemed to go to sleep, Maria removed the necklace and placed it on her mother. 

Flashing back to the night of the crash, Nora seems to be tying down the tarp on the back of the truck when Tripp approaches her.  He feigns an offer to assist her and then grabs her and orders his men to move in so that they can take her and the truck back to base.  Louise appears and black-canary-screams to push them away (sound waves, I presume). She is shot in the stomach/chest. Nora pulls her into the truck and drives them away.

The newspaper clip Michael found is dated October 12, 1948, two days before Nora was captured. 

Newspaper transcript:

Last scene - Nora is clearly driving the truck with her powers, as she has both her arms around Louise. They approach a cabin and we're introduced to Roy Bronson, who offers to help.

Roswell Town Fair Charms Locals and Tourists

Photo caption: Smiles abound demonstrate a good time had by all.

Saturday Festivities Drew Healthy Crowds

Second column under photo:

...well as celebrated hometown war heroes, and, of course, Mrs. Benjamin Booker (Carol) whose strawberry Chile pie has won the Roswell Pie Contest four seasons in a row.

Children delighted in activities such as sack races.......

Top of 3rd column:

...ice creams.

Meanwhile the annual pumpkin chunking contest was the main attraction as expected! Pumpkin chunkers arrived from far and wide with their pumpkins and their pumpkin-lurching apparatuses. The prize for best pumpkin chunked went to the Long Family. Their farm foreman Roy Bronson credited his friend and neighbor, a young woman who declined to be named, for the Long's pumpkin chunking victory.

When asked what he'd do with the prize money, Bronson declared that he would "purchase ingredients (for his lady friend) to cook up a nice pumpkin pie".

MUSIC:

Dame - Holy Moly

Tommee Profitt feat. Fleurie - Hurricane

[jodeeeart]

Hi Jodie! Do you have any tips on painting flora and making it look realistic/believable? In the sense it does in your paintings, of course. Your flowers/leaves always look SO good and I can't stop staring at them even if it's as dark as in your latest piece. I'm afraid mine always look like... blobs :D Thanks for any advice :) ♥

Hello Nonnydrops!I will try and answer this as best I can. I am actually always worried that my environments are never up to snuff so this ask made me smile.Short answer, I crib a lot from John Waterhouse. I actually have the Lady of Shalott above my computer in an attempt to absorb even a small piece of his greatness ha ha.  He has great tonal contrasts, knowledge of form and confident brush work.

Something I always used to fall victim to when tackling a volume of leaves or flowers (anything small and ornate too) was to try and handle them piece by piece. Individually. Rather than see the overall shape or how the light falls over  the mass of the tree or shrub, I would get caught up in an attempt to render every single cell ha ha. Not only is it a bloody tedious and thankless way to work but it’s not at all representative of how we actually see the world. It’s Hyper. If you’re struggling with form, I’d highly recommend you get out there in the great big nowhere with a camera, your phone is fine, and a sketchbook ( by all means a sandwich too - Treat your self!) and take some visual notes. Gather some reference. I’d recommend both because a camera can document fairly accurately for later but a sketchbook will help you see like a painter. It will help better your understanding of the forms you want to replicate and help you reduce things down to lights and darks. To really simplify. I recommend working on small paper with a large brush/pencil to help with reduction initially.

They don’t need to be masterpieces by any stretch of the imagination but they really helped me wrap my head around the less is more approach. I was forced to see the over all picture. The masses. I hope this helps a little bit. Sorry it’s in usual ramble form rather than anything formalised!Good luck with your Fauna

[nightglider124]

Baby girl

Sup, m’lovely!

Oh-ho-ho… a breakdown?

Absolutely. Actually, chopping it up into an organised answer with paragraphs might help me with my own process. Planning can be such a headache and it only gets worse if everything is a mess and a half.

Ahem.

Please stand by for a long ass but hopefully helpful post.

Physical Planning

By this I mean, when you actually use a pen and paper to bullet point and jot down your idea; whether it be a basic, rough draft or a deeply descriptive plan. But, it’s that very first step after an idea pops into your mind.

When inspiration knocks. Answer the damn door, you fool. Don’t tell yourself, “Oh, I’ll write it down later. I’m sure I’ll remember.” Spoiler! You won’t. I am fairly certain I am not alone when you tell yourself that and merely minutes after, it’s gone without a single trace. Then, you’re left with that pointless frustration at yourself for not remembering and it sucks. So, to combat that, always write an idea down straight away. Whether it’s on paper, a napkin, a sweet wrapper, your hand; it doesn’t matter. Just get the brief idea down somewhere to jog your memory later on when you go to write it up as a proper idea. With this, smartphones can be your best friend because the universal ‘Notes’ feaure that most of them have can come in real handy for this. Have an idea? Note it down in your phone to reference later on. Main point here is, get your idea down somewhere. You’ll kick yourself if you don’t.

Label your ideas. You don’t have to have a solid, concrete title for your story which means you also don’t have to definitively label your quickly written idea. Use a keyword that has some meaning to your idea. If it’s about… watching a sunset for example, just call it, ‘Sunset’ for the time being. This is just another way to keep things a little more set out and organised. It just really helps to label them so you don’t get confused over what you wrote. Many times have I written an idea on a scrap piece of paper at school or work, shoved it in my pocket and pulled it out when I got home, forgetting what it is and seeing no title so I’ve ended up chucking it in the bin. Labels are your pals. Embrace labelling your ideas. 

Keep them separate. It’s just good common sense to keep multiple ideas serparated from each other. Don’t note down a bunch of things about one idea on the same paper as another because odds are, ya’ll gon’ get confused as fuck. Also, it doesn’t hurt to write them in different coloured pen so you know they have nothing to do with each other. Keeping ideas apart is just yet another way of ensuring you are being as organised as you can for your own sake. Messy ideas and confusion are not the ones. 

Write them out properly. So, you’ve got your McDonalds napkin with your idea on it stuffed in your pocket and you’ve just got home. Time to write out on a fresh, normal piece of paper. You don’t have to do this but I prefer to have fresh versions as my phusocal copies of plans rather than whatever shred I wrote it down on in my moment of inspiration. This way, you can pinpoint more parts of your idea and expand and add details and make it more than just a passing thought. This is when you can write it up as an actual plan. 

Keep them neat & tidy. Guys, you’ve worked hard to make up your written draft; the least you could do is keep it nice and tidy. Don’t crumple it, don’t put holes in it, don’t let anything spill on it, don’t let it get ripped. Keep it clean. I recommend using plastic wallets as this is what I do. I pop my paper plans in a plastic wallet and then place a sticky label on the front of the wallet, again, so I am aware of which idea is which. Keeping your written ideas in a wallet will keep them fresh, clean and smooth. Perfect for when you want to go back and read over it or write it up elsewhere but I’ll get to that.

Keep them in a folder. Folders and organisational objects are a godsend. I don’t know why you wouldn’t store ideas in a folder of some description. Mine is red and actually one I used in high school for English class but now it stores any and all, properly labelled, story ideas. Have a gander.

There are original and fanfic story ideas in there so it’s a good little thing to have on hand if you’re trying to be focused and organised. It just keeps everything in it’s place which makes it so much easier for you. Life, for real, save yourself a headache and get yourself a folder. It helps a lot.

Keep them in a notebook. If you don’t like the idea of having a big ol’ bulky folder sitting on your desk or whatever, opt for a notebook that you just keep close to hand. Notebooks are wonderful and can act as both your initial scrap orrr you can write pages and pages of plans. They’re flexible. I use notebooks all the dang time. I keep them in the drawer beside my bed usually so that if I wake up with an idea or something; bam! There’s my notebook. Seriously. I have like 5 active notebooks that I just grab.

See? 

The Harley Quinn one is probably my most frequently used. I love my notebooks and they can be a good alternative to a big folder. But, they can also be great as material for initial ideas. Personally, I will get an idea and grab one of these babies and go to town, writing my ideas and plot points and what I want to create. After, I’ll tear the pages out and staple them together. Then, I’ll tuck them into a plastic wallet and pop that in my red idea folder. It’ll stay in there until later when I have the time to sit at a computer and write it up. Don’t know notebooks. They’re fabulous.

Store the notebook or folder safely. The whole reason you’re writing in a notebook or storing them in a folder is for safekeeping. Don’t ruin that hard work by leaving your stuff around to be thrown out or lost. Pop it in a place that you remember and is some place you look at all the time. Personally, I keep my folder in the drawer beneath my bed so that it’s within reaching distance when I get the urge to write up and/or expand on ideas. I mean, maybe I’m a little on the crazy side but I love things being organised; especially my ideas and stories. There are so many damn ideas; I need to lock them up somewhere other than in my head.

Digital Planning

This is definitely a personal choice but I deeply believe it’s better to have a digital version of plans for quick referencing, rather than shuffling through papers in order to write up a story. 

Now, say you’ve got three story ideas written down on paper. They’re safely stored and tucked away but you want to transfer them onto your laptop.

Word is your friend. It really is and so much better since the olden days with that godforsaken paperclip who always tried to help but was absolutely rubbish. I use Microsoft Word to write out any and all plans and chapters and oneshots. I sometimes use Zenwriter which is a cool and fairly cheap program out there which really aids a writer in forgetting the outside world and focusing on what they’re writing. Unlike Word, Zenwriter gives no distractions. As it is full screen software, it hides any buttons or toolbars for you to do a random Google search about why they’re called socks and not foot gloves. I recommend Zenwriter to all writers. It’s great they do a free trial, I believe so I’d defo tell people to give it a go at the very least.

Anyways, you have three physically written ideas. Get three Word documents open and transfer your papers ideas to each document. This is going somewhere. I promise.

Save each idea as something memorable. Labels, labels and more labels. Just like the paper version, you don’t need to have a concrete title in mind for the story idea yet. But, I usually title my plans as followed, ‘Title - Plan’. Simple yet effective. You can’t just save the file as a bunch of random numbers and letters. If you do that, there’s no point as you’ll most likely forget and lose it, not realising it is right in front of you because you’ve titled it something random.

If you’re organising plans for fanficition in particular, I would also put into a title if it’s an AU story. I do. A normal universe plan will be, ‘Title - Plan’ whereas an aulterante universe story plan will read like, ‘AU - Title - Plan’. Just little things to help yourself out is all it is, really.

Save all files in one location on your computer. So, you’ve copied your 3 paper written ideas to 3 separate Word documents and are in the process of saving them under appropriate titles. Where do you save them? Documents? Pictures? Music?

Personally, I keep everything to do with writing in a folder, accurately titled, ‘~Stories~’. This contains literally everything. Plans, stories; everything to do with writing is in this folder. This folder is also kept within Documents; a local and familiar section of Windows explorer. Please see below:

Good. As I said, for the moment, we’re just keeping all 3 ideas together so that we don’t lose track or anything. Of course, you could title your main folder as something else but this is how I label my folders.

Be extra and sort them out. You’ve got all 3 documents in your ‘Stories’ folder and you’re that much closer to being an organised genius. You’re not yet finished, however. Once inside of my ‘Stories’ folder, I have 8 folders. I know; you’re probably convinced I’m too into this organising thing but it helps me so, points for Night.

Let’s analyse my folders, shall we?

Counting The Days - Pretty obvious, no? Because I have big plans for this series and I plan more than one story and because it’s my long-time story baby, it gets its own folder. I’m still in the process of cleaning some of these folders up by the way guys so, it does take some time and a lot of patience. Just as a heads up. Anyway, this folder will eventually be moved to that, ‘TT - Stories’ folder which we’ll come back to shortly.

Other - Anything that I’m not sure where to put so it goes in this folder so think of… a miscellaneous folder. Any random bits that you know are connected to stories somehow would go into this one. 

Prompts - These vary to meme types on Tumblr to requested ideas. This folder is literally for any written thing telling me some little ideas to inspire more or to simply give me something to write.

TT - This folder is actually a Night folder. It’s literally a Teen Titans folder full of comic panels, episodes, clips, screen grabs, fan videos etc. It is literally a content folder. This acts as an inspiration folder. It helps me get into the right mind-set to write about my fave hero dorks. This is very, very helpful for me and like I said, you don’t have to make this kind of folder but it’s a nice aid.

TT - Oneshots - This folder is for completed oneshots that have been posted online.

TT - Plans - This folder is where I keep all the story plans.

TT - Stories - This folder is where I store all finished stories that I have written through the years. Inside this folder, there is a folder for each story I have written with all chapters in the correctly labelled folder. 

Writing Help - This folder has pointers for polishing my writing skills. It’s full of piece about grammar and spelling and all that jazz. Very helpful.

Yet more folders. We’ve reached this part; you’re spoilt for choice on the golder front. You’ve got 3 separate ideas. saved under good, memorable titles and inside of your ‘Stories’ folder. You would then drag them all inside of the folder labelled, ‘Plans’ or whatever you decide to title it. I’m a stickler for a range of folders. So, inside my ‘TT - Plans’ folder, there are 4 folders. Again, I’m splitting these up a lot because that’s just how I am but you don’t need to if you don’t want to. Organising stories and plans is completely up to the individual. This is just a guide and reflection of what I personally do.

Here comes the analysis train again.

Additional for ANY plans - So this folder is for any additional documents I’ve written up that help and support my plans for specific stories as in character bios or big events that need to happen or anything like that. This folder goes for all plans; active or not.

Plans - ACTIVE - This folder is for story plans that I am currently focusing on and have a real focus on for the future. They are plans I know 100% that I will turn into a story.

Plans - COMPLETE - This folder is for plans of stories that I have already finished writing. Not necessarily needed but I like to keep them because I’m just a hoarder to be honest. 

Plans - STORAGE - This folder is for plans that I don’t really know if I’m ever going to bother going further with but also plans that I can’t quite part with yet; just in case I get the urge to pursue and expand on some of them. There are some plans that you look back on and think ugh god no’ not doing that and you just delete them but there are a few that remain in the grey are so instead of chucking them or forcing yourself to complete them; make a storage folder. You can always go back to these if you run out of active ideas anyway.

So, this is where you can deviate to how you like but I think having about 3 folders like this really helps you to differentiate between all your wonderful ideas. Then, all you have to do is move your 3 documented files into whichever folders you like.

It’s completely optional for you guys to write up plans like this. As in, it’s up to you whether or not you want to do both a paper version and digital version. I like to simply because I’m extra. I find it really helpful to have a digital version but I keep the paper versions too as backup. As we all know, technology likes to fuck us over from time to time so having a hardcopy is always a smart move.  Before I did this, I can’t tell you how many plans I lost. Like I said though, it’s up to you how you store and organise plans. This is just my process.

Actual Planning

Considering we’re already talking about how I store and organise my plans, I thought why not share my process of actually writing a plan itself?

Title and Summary. This is the very first thing I do. I will usually write my makeshift title or solid one if I’ve already got one in mind from the get go. I will then follow it up below with a brief summary containing multiple keywords; just so from a quick glance, you will remember what this idea is about. It’s a nice way of not having to read through some big fat plan without knowing what the idea itself is. Summary and then in depth version is my way to go, anyway. 

List your characters. Again, optional. I like to do: Title, summary and characters. I literally write a name, age and small bio just to help me out a little. I does help; believe me. It’s like… are they normal universe characters? Are they AU characters? Are they an OC? I usually place this just after the summary and before I go in depth with the actual plan.

More detail. This is where the real part comes in. This is the point where I usually write a full plan. I usually set it out by pinpointing the main events in my story. I will always plan it in chronological order and insert anything I miss in the right order. I wouldn’t try setting a plan with the main events of your story being all over the place, if I’m honest. Itjust makes it confusing and frustrating. This will normally be done in theformat of bullet points and small headers, but I’m flexible and I don’t do thisevery single time. Like I said; it’s down to the one writing the thing.

Expand. Alright,so you have 10 points that will act as 10 chapters, for example. At this point,expand. Go through each point and write more into it. I’ll admit, sometimes Icould very well copy and paste from my plan into an actual chapter; that’s howmuch detail I put in. Anything memorable you want in a specific chapter;whether it’s a gesture or dialogue or whatever, now would be the time to notethat in. Just expand enough so that you have a thorough understanding of what’sgonna go down in each and every chapter. You don’t want to finish off a plan,without it being very detailed and get completely stumped midway through yourstory because your plan wasn’t prepared enough.

Edit accordingly. Changethe font, colours, size, boldness or italicize until your heart’s content. Thiscan be a really helpful technique for some writers. I personally, don’t reallychange it from standard black coloured font set at default of ‘Calibri (body)’.But, I know some people find it better to work with bright colours etc. Again,do what helps you.

Add in images or short clips or references. I do this a lot with images. If I’m going to bedescribing a dress that one of my female character choices will be wearing, Igather up a bunch of images from google to help when the time comes to write itup. This goes for clips and references too. If there’s something you wanna addin that you’ve been inspired by; paste that in there. Anything that benefitsyou in the writing process, lock that down into your plan. It really will makeyou breathe a sigh of relief later on.

Use available tools. So,if you’re writing on Word - which I suggest as I personally do use Word a hellof a lot to write chapters and plans - make use of the cool features on here.There’s a nifty tool where you use ‘New Comment’ and ‘Reviewing Pane’. This isan absolute life-saver. 

Alrighty, so you’ve got your three chapters.This is just an example, I don’t think I’ve ever written a three chapter story,haha. Anyway, imagine there is more writing and they’re separated a littlemore.

Start by highlighting the first chapter. Once you’ve done that, go ahead and click new comment up the top. Don’t forgetthis tool is found under the review tab of the upper toolbar.

After doing this, you should see it do thismagical thing here. It might not turn it red; if it doesn’t, do not freak out.Word gives you an assortment of colours that you unfortunately cannot changeyourself. The colour is automatically chosen. Anyway, click in the littlecomment box and type ‘Chapter One’.

Then, go ahead and do this for the other twochapters and label them as well. Just like before. After, click that button uptop titled, ‘Reviewing Pane’.

Finally, the ‘Reviewing Pane’ will pop up onthe left hand side of the screen. If you click any one of the red bars, it’lltake you directly to that chapter. This is absolutely amazing when you have asuper longwinded plan. It saves time scrolling and scrolling through the entiredocument. I strongly recommend doing this.

Remember to save. Don’tbe a dummy. Continuously save and don’t always rely on Word’s auto savefunction. As I said, technology can be a bitch so try to be ahead of it at alltimes. As already stated earlier on, you’ll want to title it well. Nothingrandom as you’ll lose track of it. And then, all you’ve gotta do is sort yourplans into your folders.

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So, that is all! This is everything I canpossibly think of that I see during my planning process. I hope you guys findthis helpful and like I said, it’s down to you to find a way to organise yourdocuments in a way you like. If you’re one of those people that find order inchaos and absolute mess, then I salute you as I could never do that. I’m a bitof an organising freak once I get going.

Find your pace and find your process. Thank you @fireflyxrebel for the question. This was actually really fun to breakdown forya’ll.

Much love!