#I get 20 new posts on the dash every 10 minutes ON A GOOD DAY

[anyataylorjoys]

"I'm making gifs soon dw ppl!" no one is worried bbygirl, not to be the biggest downer but you are still living in 2013 if you think we're making gifs for anyone but ourselves (and maybe 3 other people) at this point. I have come to terms with this. when I post gifs, I'm not relieving anyone from a drought, but rather just hoping people will not scroll by them without a look and if I'm a lucky, I may see a show of shared appreciation for the content. not posting consistent gifsets eats away at you, and you only. most won't notice unless you go dormant for a long period of time. maintaining a blog should not feel like a job. it's rough out here. post content when you feel like it, and not out of obligation. give yourself a break.

[kiragecko]

Now that I'm approaching 1,500 followers, I have some data about how the experience shifts.¹ Starting at 500, because back when I had less than that, the site was ... different.²

500 followers -

a bad post may get no notes. A good one might hit 75.

Notifications of any type are exciting - many days I don't get any. I check each one by looking at the post, and reply to pretty much everyone who replies or tags.

I rarely get messages - I have a friend who sends one occasionally.

750 followers -

A bad post gets 2-3 notes. A good one might hit 200.

Notifications are exciting - I usually get a few while scrolling my dash, and come back to 2 digits when I get up in the morning. I check each reblog by looking at the post, and respond to all replies and pretty much everyone who tags.

I rarely get messages - I have a friend who sends one occasionally.

1000 followers -

A bad post gets 3-10 notes. A good one occasionally blows up, and just keeps circulating.

Notifications are exciting - the speed I get them while scrolling my dash tells me if posts are doing well. I check each reblog with tags/comments by looking at the post, and respond to all replies and people who say interesting things.

I rarely get messages - I have a friend, and an anon, who send one occasionally.

1,500 followers -

A bad post gets 6-20 notes. But somehow, I make more 'good' posts than I used to! Maybe once a month a post starts circulating - not going viral, but getting enough momentum that it keeps trickling notes back to me for the rest of the month. I regularly get over a hundred notes, even on weird stuff with niche appeal.

Notifications are actually getting normalized. I fought this happening, but I'm starting to skim over likes, a bit. I get a new like every few minutes. I usually only check reblogs if their tags interest me. I respond to various types of tags or replies only once - subsequent people are out of luck. Sometimes I get slightly annoyed with myself for reblogging something, because getting notes for THAT post doesn't provoke a sense of belonging. I'd rather people enjoy a DIFFERENT post with me. I'm spoiled by people regularly reblogging with good comments, despite the site culture seeming less and less interested in doing that.

I rarely get messages - I have a friend, and an anon, who send one occasionally.

-

I think the numbers are different for everyone. It depends on how zealous you are about blocking bots. What kind of people are interested in your posts, and how social that group of people is. Whether you reblog polls or not. Many many things change numbers and engagement.

But I can definitely feel that the way I'm interacting with tumblr is shifting as my followers go up. I'm not social enough to engage on the same level I used to. And it's not like my social skills have improved at all! Maybe my post writing skills, but I still don't have a CLUE what to do when people actually talk to me.

I can see why many popular blogs mostly only interact with close friends. Otherwise, Tumblr could become REALLY lonely - a sea of people, none of whom actually know you. I'm not at the point of needing to shut most people out, yet.³ But I can understand why it happens. That's a healthy way of dealing with things!

-

¹ I was always curious about this kind of stuff when I had less followers. I still am. I want to know what the experience is like for other blogs - both with more AND less followers than me!

² People actually sent asks and had reblog conversations. My amount of real interaction was MUCH higher a decade ago.

³ Especially since the blogs I think of as my friends ... do not seem to have any more social skills than I do. They are not carrying the conversational burdens that I'm unable to bear for me! We're all in this together.

[biboomerangboi]

So you want to your local tumblr Creator?

Okay with all the AI art things coming out and also some new users I thought I’d show you all good ways to support creators on this platform.

First you’re going to want to go into your settings click into visibility and manually turn off the third party sharing feature.

Yes even if you aren’t an artist or don’t post anything at all. The more users that turn this on the more Tumblr can see we don’t want AI here.

This is literally the bare minimum of what you can do and if that’s all you want to do that’s fine.

However if you want to support creators more you need to understand that likes don’t do anything on this platform. With a lot of new users I’m seeing more and more ratios like this:

Which is fine all notes are good notes we all appreciate your like on our art but this is the reblogging site. There’s no algorithm! Likes don’t boost our art that much, other than maybe bringing us to the top of the tag. What helps is reblogging. This site is built for that and it is quick and easy.

Literally all you have to do is hit the reblog button beside the like button and hit post. You don’t need tags or anything on your own blog. It really is quick and simple. Literally it only takes one second more than liking alone.

Now you might be saying Zee I want to reblog but I don’t want to spam my blog, I’m only on tumblr at 20 minute intervals I don’t want to to clog up other peoples dashes with my reblogs and that’s fine I got you.

Let me tell you about the queue function. Tumblr has a built in awesome system called the queue.

It’s really quick and easy to use all you have to do is hit the reblog button, hit the three dots to the side, hit queue and boom your reblog is now added to your queue.

Now what does the queue actually do? Basically it allows for your reblogs to go out at random times throughout the day without you doing anything. For example mine posts 10 times a day during the whole 24hr period. This is because as you can see I have a lot of art in my queue, you don’t need to have that much but you can. The queue is literally limitless.

To modify your queue can also hit that cog button and modify it to suit your every whim. And boom there you go a quick and easy way to help creators from your mobile without any hassle.

You can even shuffle your queue so on days when discover a new interest and go through the entire tag liking and reblogging things you can mix it around with the stuff you regularly reblog to not overwhelm your followers with your new special interest! It's great!

Now if you want to push this one step further, maybe you like having tags on your posts to keep your blog organised, but you don’t want the hassle of typing out all those tags in 20 mins. Then don’t worry, I got you.

You see I kinda lied, the like button does have a function. It’s great as working as a bookmark. So if your in public and you want to show love for something then go on ahead and like that thing. Then when you get home you’re going to want to pull out your laptop and boot up tumblr and xkit. Which you can get here!

Once you have xkit up your going to want to go to quick tags and set up your tag buddles. These tags are then autosaved and easy edited making reblogging and adding to your queue incredibly easy. You can even add in your own rambly tags and keep the bundle.

Honestly you don't even need to do it everyday, sure it saves some time but I usually try to update my queue once every two weeks or so (I forgot for like a month this time thats why my queue is so big, I had to go very far back, Don't be a me. It's stressful.) By using your likes as a bookmark you keep all the art and then can backdate everything you've liked in past few weeks, but honestly you don't need to do this. I do because I can be very Type A about running a blog but no one is going to hate you for spam reblogging or for reblogging without tags but please think about reblogging stuff to give a creator a much needed boost of serotonin. Remember that most creators are here for free and just want to share the thing they love with other people so keep the cycle alive and reblog stuff.

[sheliesshattered]

while trying to edit posts in my drafts and add them to my queue, I am somehow getting three different versions of the post editor -- 1. the legacy editor with no option to change it to the beta editor (fine), 2. the legacy editor with an option to change to the beta editor (good), 3. just the beta editor with no way to change back to the legacy editor (awful, terrible, no good, cursed).

by opening up three different posts into the editing frame and then closing them without changes, I have managed to confirm that the same post will always result in the same editor option. but a post made ~20 minutes ago (from someone not me) isn’t the one defaulting to the only-beta-editor mode. oh no, that one gives me option #1, legacy-editor-with-no-switch. so it’s definitely not tied to the newness of the post. there’s no pattern whatsoever that I can see as yet.

why does this matter to me? well besides the awful bubblegum look of the beta editor, scheduling a post has changed from a field I can type freely in, to a collection of calendar clicks and drop-downs to pick the date and time I want to schedule the post for. why does that matter? well those of you who follow me know that I schedule 10 seasonally-appropriate posts every single day, with an extra 10 or so on the night of every full moon. solstices and equinoxes get 48 scheduled posts, and big holidays may have 100 or more scheduled posts relevant to that holiday.

I like scheduling posts. I have a whole system of keeping track of what needs to be scheduled next. I schedule a space post for midnight every single night of the year, so every time I see a space post I want to reblog, if there’s room in my queue I go ahead and schedule it for the next day out on my schedule. as of today, February 13, the next midnight space post I’ll schedule will be for July 13. I schedule a lot and I like doing it. I wouldn’t bother with it if I didn’t. I like seeing the seasonally-appropriate posts on my dash, it helps me keep track of the passage of time, which is a huge help for my mental health.

the beta editor doesn’t make that impossible, but it does make it significantly more fiddly and annoying. I don’t like anything about the beta editor, I would rather stay with the legacy editor forever -- if I wanted to use the Tumblr mobile app I’d just use the Tumblr mobile app, but I use the browser site for a reason.

there’s no conceivable reason why Tumblr should be giving me three separate versions of the editor. just stick with option #2, where I as the end-user have the option to choose which editor I want. stop trying to bully me into your bubblegum nightmare @staff

[with-love-anu]

Some tips to start a fandom blog (for writers)

Okay, before I begin I will like to say that I am no expert or am 100% sure these are bound to work. But these are some things I learnt over time that might help you out! 

1. Tagging posts.

This one is one of the most important points! You must tag everything properly for your content to actually reach as many people as possible. 

Do your research! Search up common/popular tags people use for the content you want to post and use them wisely. 

Use no more than 20 tags because tumblr will not show them up. When you post something, make a quick search of any of the tags you used and go to the recent section to see whether your post actually showed up. If not, try posting again.  

For new blogs- don’t start posting as soon as you make a blog. Your posts will not show up. Instead, reblog some content (gifs / moodboards / fanfiction etc) for a week or two along with tags! 

Tags I use for my fanfiction**:   #character full name   #character first name   #character full name fanfiction   #character full name x reader   #character full name x you   #character full name x y/n   #character first name x reader   #character first name x you   #fandom name   #side character full names (excluding oc)

**I’m currently writing for HP, Marvel etc. 

2. Taglists.

Now this is a tricky topic because there’s never a straight answer to this. I’ll just list down the some things I’ve learnt about taglists.

A long taglist does not equate to more number of notes. While taglists help your readers to be notified about your content, I know for a fact that it doesn’t mean everyone mentioned will interact with the post. Some might do, some might just leave a like while some might not read at all. 

Taglists work only when the people you tag, read and reblog and are actually active. Otherwise not so much. 

Tagging will take at least 10-15 minutes, copy pasting a taglist doesn’t work. You have to click on each individual user so tumblr tags them. While tumblr has updated by adding the filtering activity option, there is still a good chance that the person might not get the notification at all. 

Is there an alternative? Well, what I’ve done is that I’ve made a side blog. Whenever I post some new content- I reblog it over there. If people have the notifications on for that blog, they get notified whenever I post. It technically works the same way as taglists. 

Another thing you can do is submit the link to your post to @catching-the-train-to-hogwarts to be promoted to a large number of readers. PSA: Only for HP fandom.

3. Posting time.

Yes, this is important. Search up the time tumblr or the specific fandom is most active. Post during that time or a little later, so that people could see your works on their dashes. 

Schedule your timezone reblogs strategically. 

4. Interact.

Interact with your mutuals, with other writers. Comment and reblog their works and talk to them. Don’t be afraid to seek help or ask something if they welcome that- you are always free to send me asks. It’s better when people know you because that way it’s more likely that they’ll read and see your work. 

I am not telling you that anyone is bound to reblog your work because you do the same or the fact that they are your friends. I’m trying to say that sometimes a little support goes a long way. I wouldn’t be here if my mutuals didn’t help me out in the beginning.

5. Post format.

Okay so what I’ve found while searching and reading up fanfiction is that I personally was more likely to read a fanfiction with a summary and mentioned word count. 

Use a keep reading option or tag it with #long post. If your fanfiction is more than 1K words and/or contains nsfw/smut content- use that, it’s monotonous to see a wall of text on your dash. It’s the three dot box on a new line  adjacent to the insert gif in case you’re using the website. If you’re using the app, type :readmore: on a new line and press enter.

Use warnings. It is essential- mention it if there are none. 

6. Miscellaneous.

Participate in challenges. Enter in different challenges while making new content because one, it will give you exposure and two it will be great way to promote your work. 

If you’re starting a completely new blog, it’s better to have content made up in advance. Because firstly you need time so that tumblr recognizes that you’re not a bot so you’ll have to reblog posts for a week or two with appropriate tags. Then posting content consistently does give you a boost because more content (maybe at a gap of 3 days) means more followers, more people who read your works. 

When to make masterlists? People are usually quicker to follow when they see a masterlist made so it’s an advantage to make one when you’ve posted about 3-4 works. But if you make a masterlist later- after posting about 10-15 works, it will give you a boost in the activity because new users will be able to see your works and binge. The choice is upto you.

There are users who would say that it’s good to take as many requests as possible because it helps you grow. While it is true to some extend, I don’t find it to be useful. Because when I first begun, taking in all types of requests burnt me out and lowered my motivation because there were scenarios I didn’t relate with at all but still wrote them. The quality of my content decreased too. Again, it’s up to you.

I used to write headcanons during writing blocks. Headcanons are usually easier to deal with and not to mention the fact that they are fun. That way I could provide for more content and still not stress out.

Most of all, take it easy. It’s not your job- you are not supposed to create content every time. You, your health and happiness comes first. People will adore and love you even if you stop posting for months straight. Have fun, okay?

[slade-neko]

Saw this video game tag thing pop up on my dash a few days ago. Wanted to do it.

1. First game you played obsessively? Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, I believe I was 5yo. Still waiting on that FF7 Remake treatment.

2. A game that has influenced you creatively? Writing, drawing, etc. Well if I play a game and like it, then I'll create sims of it. Does that count?

3. Who did you play with as a kid? My brother from the day I was born.

4. Who do you play with now? My brother FROM THE DAY I WAS BORN.

5. Ever use cheat codes? I wasn't lying when I made this post. {link}

6. Ever buy strategy guides? Yes! Mainly to look at the artwork though. (Don't need no guide!)

7. Any games you have multiple copies of? Lots of games, most being Left 4 Dead with 6 copies (3 Xbox 360, 1 PC case, 2 PC digitally.) What can I say, its a GOOD GAME!

8. Rarest/Most expensive game in your collection? Gold cartridge Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (maybe that's rare?)

9. Most regrettable purchase? I don't regret my purchases, but I have received games I have never played like Cubix (PS2) no clue where that game came from, but I have it somehow. Madagascar (Xbox 360) came with my Xbox 360, never opened it from its case. And Monsters Inc. Scream Arena (Gamecube) or something... it was a gift.

10. Ever go to a midnight game release or stand in line for hours? No, because then I'd have to interact with people.

11. Have you ever made new friends from playing video games? I'm only friends with people BECAUSE of video games, so yes.

12. Ever get picked on for liking games? No, that'd be ridiculous.

13. A game you’ve never played that everyone else has? Probably a lot, I'd say Call of Duty, but I technically played CoD 1, 2, and 4. The campaign mode was alright, but I don't really care for CoD games at ALL.

14. Favorite game music? Koji Kondo and Grant Kirkhope are two BIG ones.

15. If it was a requirement to get a game related tattoo, what would you pick? Triforce is the most basic option, but I'd rather not get a tattoo.

16. Favorite game to play with your friends IRL? Super Smash Bros. Brawl with hacks, but that was over a decade ago.

17. Ever lose a friend over a game? No, that'd be ridiculous.

18. Would you date someone that hates gaming? No, that'd be RIDICULOUS.

19. Favorite handheld console? PSP. 3DS is great, but PSP Monster Hunter has ALL of my portable gaming memories. Like playing in school after End of Grade tests with my friend.

20. Game that you know like the back of your hand? Sims 4 I like to think I know everything about Left 4 Dead. Quite a bit about Monster Hunter, more so of a series though than a specific game.

21. Game that you didn’t like or understand as a kid but love now? I'd say Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic. I loved it as a kid, but had a lot of complex pen & paper RPG mechanics that I never understood. I understand a lot more of it now, but its still complex as all heck. I just know you hit things, they die.

22. Do you wear game related clothing/accessories? That's the only thing I wear.

23. The game that you’ve logged the most hours into? Not sure so I'll list a few. Sims 4, Smash Bros. Brawl, Monster Hunter (its a series though), or Left 4 Dead

24. First Pokemon game? Leaf Green

25. Were you ever an arcade game player? No, don't like paying to play.

26. Ever form any gaming rivalries? No.

27. Game that makes you rage? I don't get mad at games, but I had a custom modded Hard Eight mutation in Left 4 Dead that is absolute bullsh*t!

28. Ever play in a tournament? No, because then I'd have to interact with people.

29. What is your gaming set up? A giant wall of video game consoles spanning from NES to Switch, 4 TVs, but I sit at a desk with a PC.

30. How many consoles do you own? "I own every console that's ever existed." - I Don't Play Games When I Play Games (My STRENTH) original song by Smooth McGroove BUT no seriously I own 32 consoles including handhelds.

31. Does the 3DS and/or Virtual Boy hurt your eyes or give you headaches? Yes. 3DS gave me headaches though I only really played with the 3D feature in Ocarina of Time 3D. I think my eyes broke because I couldn't get my 3D to work very well after.

32. Did you ever play a game based on your favorite show/cartoon/movie/comic? Sure I play games based on a lot of things. Literally any anime game. If I had to pick Dragon Ball Xenoverse is kinda like a dream Dragon Ball game. Oh, Attack on Titan 2 is pretty neat too!

33. Did you ever have any bootleg games or plug-n-play games? Some SEGA plug-n-play thing once. Played it like once and now its lost to time (or my closet.)

34. Do either of your parents play video games? Yes. Mom and Dad played NES Super Mario Bros. My Dad went HARD at that game until he saved the Princess. Then he quit forever.

35. Ever work in a game store? Or do you have a favorite game shop? "Hi. Welcome to Gamestop!"I never want to hear that again, but it was my main store until I went full digital/ online orders.

36. Have you ever shed actual blood, sweat or tears over a game? No, I don't tend to get upset or emotional, but Bill dying in Left 4 Dead made me pretty pissed.

37. Have you played E.T. for the Atari 2600? Do you think that’s the worst game ever, or do you have another nomination? Never played it. I don't really play "bad" games, but maybe Sims 4.

38. A game you’re ashamed to admit that you like? The Sims 4

39. A sequel that you would die for them to make? Dragon's Dogma 2 WHICH I think is actually in development, so I'd have to say Fallout New Vegas 2. C'mon Bethesda you cowards, hand the keys back over to Obsidian so they can make another good Fallout game!

40. What to you think of virtual reality headsets or motion controls? Two part question, two answers. VR Headset to immerse in world, yes. Motion Controls, no.

41. A genre that you just can’t get into? MOBAs and MMOs. I don't like paying to keep playing.

42. Maybe it wasn’t your first game, but what was the game that started you on your path to nerdiness? Nintendo 64 opened me up to what video games could be as a kid. Sad to say my parents' NES didn't really do that for me. And years later Fallout 3 was a big game changer for me too.

43. Ever play games when you really should have been concentrating on something else? Every day of my LIFE.

44. Arcade machine that has consumed the most of your quarters? None. I'd rather emulate.

45. How are you at Mario Kart? Pretty dang good. 3-STARS MARIO KART WII, BABY!

46. Do you like relaxing games like Animal Crossing or Harvest Moon? Yes, both of those. I preferred when Animal Crossing had more character to it. New Horizons looks so pretty, but feels so bland compared to classic AC.

47. Do you like competitive games? No. Not really. Usually amongst friends or if I can get competitive against AI Bots. I love my machine bot friends cause they don't cry like 10 year olds when they lose.

48. How long does it take your to customize your player character? Too long. I've seriously restarted games because I wasn't happy with my character's appearance.

49. In games where you can pick your class, do you always tend to go for the same type of character? Yes, I am always the magic man, my brother is always brute warrior, and my friend is the ranger.

50. If you were a game designer, what masterpiece would you create? I don't really know. Honestly, I'd rather mod already good games to make them better than create something completely new.

51. Have you ever played a game for so long that you forgot to eat or sleep? No, that'd be ridiculous. But I've had a friend fall asleep playing games at my house 3 different times and currently dozes off during our Minecraft sessions. So, maybe that's not a completely ridiculous thing after all.

52. A game that you begged your parents for as a kid? Kirby 64 apparently. My brother tells me we had to count out pennies to buy it. I must've been too young with no recollection, but I believe it.

53. What’s your opinion on DLC these days? It's good if its not in the game's files from the beginning and is actually developed AFTER launch... and pre-order bonuses should be standard DLC a month or two later. Some games have content lost to time because of that pre-order bullsh*t.

54. Do you give in to Steam sales? Of course. If you want a game and its on sale then why not? I typically wait just for Steam sales to get games.

55. Did you ever make someone you hated in the Sims and did mean stuff to them? No? I typically make people and characters I like in Sims. I've made villains like Dio, but he's an anime villain and I don't really HATE him despite the horrible things he's done.

56. Did you ever play Roller Coaster Tycoon and kill off your guests? No. Never played that game.

57. Did you ever play a game to 100% or get all of the achievements? I try to for all the games I really like.

58. If you can only play 3 games for the rest of your life, which ones do you pick? The Sims 4, Skyrim, & Fallout: New Vegas. Mods make them live forever. Left 4 Dead and Monster Hunter are good choices too.

59. Do you play any cell phone games? Those aren't games.

60. Do you know the Konami Code? No? But I'll take a guess. Is it make an IP and forget it exists?

61. Do you trade in your games or keep them forever? Keep forever... even the bad ones.

62. Ever buy a console specifically to play one game? PS4 Pro for Monster Hunter World. It was basically for early access since the PC version was being developed and releasing after PS4, but I don't like waiting.

63. Ever go to a gaming convention or tournament? Sort of. Been to anime cons and walked into the gaming tournament rooms only to walk out less than 10 minutes later.

64. Ever make a TV or monitor purchase based on what would be best for gaming? No, but I'm going to be doing that soon, hopefully.

65. Ever have a Game Genie, Game Shark or Action Replay? Did it ever mess up your game’s save file? GameShark for N64, PS2, Gameboy, and Action Replay for Gamecube, DS, 3DS. And no not really, I would cheat responsibly... but there was this one time at school my friend and I borrowed another friend's Gameboy game, loaded it up with my Gameshark, tried playing, it crashed, loaded it back up, save file corrupted... we just stared at each other jaws dropped, "Here's your game back, dude. Make sure you don't play it til you get back home!"

66. Did you ever have have an old Nokia with Snake on it? No, but I remember seeing them on billboards in the game DRIV3R on PS2.

67. Do you have a happy gaming-related childhood memory you want to share? Every game I play is filled with happy memories (mostly.)

68. Ever save up a ton of tickets in an arcade to get something cool? These tiger plushes. My brother got white and I got orange. They were the coolest. Got a butt load of tickets from some jackpot spinning light game thing as I was good at the timing with repeated jackpot hits.

69. In your opinion, best game ever made? I've played quite a few masterpiece games, but to pick one, I'd say Fallout: New Vegas

70. Very first game you ever beat? Super Mario 64. I was a mere child on a Sunday morning and ate celebratory pancakes made by my Dad.

Wow, that was long... I get the feeling this was supposed to be a "send me ask with numbers" thing, but answering all at once is more fun.

[earnmysong]

Tag Game!

the brilliant @beth-is-rainpaint asked that i expound on the following. if you’d enjoy doing so as well, by all means!

1. what is the color of your hairbrush? a very boring tan wood with black bristles

2. a food you never eat: coconut; i adore the smell and i’m okay with the flavor. the texture to me, though, is veryyyyy reminiscent of fingernails. not that i eat fingernails... 

3. are you typically too warm or too cold? i would rather have icicles on my eyelashes than be anything close to sweating. so too warm, i guess?  

4. what were you doing 45 minutes ago? picking up my mobile order @ starbucks

5. what’s your favorite candy bar? hershey’s cookies and cream

6. have you ever been to a professional sports game? yep! a great many new york mets games, the best of which was the world series game @ citi field on halloween of 2015. it was my first year teaching, and i said if my boys made it all the way that it would be a good omen for my career so getting tickets was definitely a must!

7. what is the last thing you said out loud? ‘ooooh nice’ - upon hearing ‘there’s no way’ on sirius xm on my way home

8. what is your favourite ice cream? rocky road

9. what was the last thing you had to drink? a chai latte from starbucks

10. do you like your wallet? sure! it’s one of those vera bradley rectangular keychain deals, and it has pink fish all over it.

11. what is the last thing you ate? a blueberry pop-tart

12. did you buy any new clothes last weekend? indeed; i finally bought a no doubt tee, and some holiday leggings from old navy

13. what’s the last sporting event you watched? the voice counts, right? :D

14. what is your favorite flavor of popcorn? boom chicka pop’s sweet and salty kettle corn is a gift to humanity

15. who is the last person you sent a text message to? one of my coworkers, as we were putting together a review of the nitrogen and carbon cycles for our kids tomorrow

16. ever been camping? my backyard excursion as a youngster didn’t last the whole night, and when i went to camp for a summer? it decided to lightning every single time we attempted

17. do you take vitamins? should i, given my physical state? most definitely, of course! do i? nope, have you met me?

18. do you regularly attend a place of worship? yes. now it’s mostly virtual, but it actually helps my anxiety immensely!

19. do you have a tan? absolutely, 100% negatory

20. do you prefer chinese or pizza? chinese, alwayssssss

21. do you drink your soda through a straw? i drink everything through a straw, even hot lattes where the label says ‘not recommended for hot beverages’. if i die of cancer, we know why...

22. what color socks do you usually wear? my favorite socks are a pack of fortune cookies and a pack of ‘donut worry’ donuts, both from forever 21

23. do you ever drive above the speed limit? i don’t drive a car, and my wheelchair goes 3 miles/hr max. so, nope. 

24. what terrifies you? clowns, lightning, drowning, choking ahahaha

25. look to your left, what do you see? my signed ingrid michaelson posted from the ‘songs for the season’ tour!

26. what chore do you hate most? n/a

27. what do you think of when you hear an Australian accent? heath ledger! RIP, sir. how can it be thirteen years in january?

28. what’s your favorite soda? vanilla coke

29. do you go in a fast food place or just hit the drive thru? drive-thru all the way

30. what’s your favorite number? seven

31. who’s the last person you talked to? my mom

32. favorite meat? chicken nuggets

33. last song you listened to? ‘happy anywhere’ by blake shelton ft. gwen stefani; i still can’t believe i immensely enjoy it; i’d sworn off all of their duets; as a lifelong no doubt/gwen fan, their relationship still doesn’t compute; I’M HAPPY THEY’RE HAPPY, THOUGH

34. last book you read? dash + lily’s book of dares; i wanted to see how the novel compared to the show

35. favorite day of the week? definitely friday! i adore my job, but knowing a recharge is around the corner is a sweet sweet feeling 

36. can you say the alphabet backwards? if i had the desire to attempt, i bet i could

37. how do you like your coffee? at home? with cinnamon toast crunch coffee-mate; out and about? a chai latte, not coffee, is usually my go-to

38. favorite pair of shoes? for someone that can’t walk, i have tons of shoes! out of all of them, my most interesting fashion statements are the women of marvel vans and millie bobby brown’s orca converse high tops

39. time you normally get up? pre-covid? 5 am; currently, in my tele-working glory? 7am

40. what do you prefer, sunrise or sunsets? sunsets, because my brain always goes ‘the sun has gone to bed and so must i’

41. how many blankets on your bed? four

42. describe your kitchen plates. white china middle with colored fruits around the rim

43. describe your kitchen at the moment. decorated with all manner of thanksgiving cards from friends and family

44. do you have a favorite alcoholic drink? i don’t indulge regularly but, when i do, i enjoy a dark and stormy or a sex on the beach

45. do you play cards? my dad and i played a bunch of euchre this summer

46. what color is your car? my wheelchair is purple and my accessible van is blue with a white stripe down the side

47. can you change a tire? not on your life

48. your favorite state or province? i may live in virginia, but my heart will always belong to new york (city)!

49. favorite job you’ve had? my current one is pretty great! i’m an itinerant ESOL/SPED and i love my kiddos with my entire being! 

[ezzydean]

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line. Then tag 10 of your favorite authors!  

(click here to read them all on my tumblr and not the dash)

1. It takes approximately forty-two minutes before Stiles can convince himself to get up off the loveseat where he’s happily squished between Danny and Isaac.  (love aka part 3 of the Stiles/Peter slow burn I wrote because of Catt)

2. “So.  What the djinn did to Dean in, what was it, season one?  Two?  Whatever.  Yeah totally legit.  Negative fifty out of ten.  Would not recommend.” (promise aka part 2 of the Stiles/Peter slow burn)

3. Hajime freezes when he hears the distinct sound of someone pointedly clearing their throat behind him.  (the 5+1 mistletoe kisses prompt)

4. Stiles’s phone lights up and he gives it a wary look when he sees the text notification on his screen.  He’s already been warned, by a few different people, that he would probably be getting a summons soon. (trust aka part 1 of the Stiles/Peter slow burn)

5. “There comes a day in every man’s li—”

The officiant is cut off by a loud cough and he takes a bracing breath, eyes fluttering.  (the magic in you aka KageUshiIwa magical fluff)

6. The sky is turning gray, clouds rolling in to cover up the sunset, when Kuroo finally turns to Shouyou and sighs.

“Call him.”

Shouyou snickers at the defeated tone of Kuroo’s voice but he pulls out his phone. (we’re in a parking lot somewhere aka KuroHinaDai something or other I’m writing)

7. It still hurts sometimes.  Not his wound.  It’s scarred up rather nicely.  As nice as a giant scar across half your face can be anyway. (a yet to be titled/plotted ATLA Zuko & Toph thing)

8. It starts early one morning —  mere minutes after the door has unlocked and the sign has scrawled itself into a brilliantly colorful OPEN complete with sparkles and tiny fireworks — not long after everything has started to quiet down.  (Well it had technically started years and years ago when they were all childish and stupid right little shits to each other but that’s a different story for a different day.) (only time will tell aka my Draco/George & Theo/Fred fic)

9.  Neville snaps his head up, instantly wary of Hermione and that tone of voice, and then flushes when he realizes what he’s done.  It’s Hermione after all.  She’s entirely too clever for her own good but she’s not some sneaky devious creature he has to watch his back around.  Though sometimes when she smiles the way she’s smiling now he remembers that, actually, yes she is a sneaky devious creature.  She just likes him enough that, for the most part, he doesn’t have to worry about watching his back around her.  (an untitled HP everyone comes back as professors fic)

10. Some things in life are certain.  They’re just going to happen no matter what, no matter how much you might try to prevent them.  So the smart thing to do would be to just go with the flow, right?  Just let the things happen and try not to stress over it.  Morisuke likes to think of himself as a fairly smart person.  So he’ll just take a few deep breaths and let it go, right?

Wrong.  (untitled TsukkiYaku fake dating fic)

11. Issei stumbles out of his bedroom and shuffles down the hall doing a really great impression of a zombie if you ask him.  He’s got the groans and the unsteady steps and the unfocused eyes and the inability to use higher brain functions like speech and decision making.  (my last first everything aka HanaMatsu slow burn mutual pining childhood friends to lovers)

12. The cauldron in the fireplace rattles and Daichi gives it an unimpressed stare. (cauldron bubble aka BokuDai magic accidental baby acquisition)

13. Tobio’s eyes cross as he tries to focus on the object dangling in front of his face.  He leans away from it and presses the back of his head against a warm stomach.

“Hello Iwaizumi,” he says.  (a place in the sun aka IwaKage fluff)

14. The cupboard under the stairs isn’t exactly the most comfortable place to be.  But if you are five and want to hear what the adults are talking about so seriously in the kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place then, sadly, the cupboard it is. (matchsticks and dragon scales, year 1 aka my Harry Potter rewrite)

15. Hajime takes a sip of his coffee and sighs, ignoring the world around him for just a few minutes while he sits and at his table at Generic Coffee Shop and gets his morning dose of caffeine.  (roots and sky aka the IwaOi part of my childhood friends to lovers series, the dichotomy of you and me)

16. It’s two in the afternoon on a Tuesday and all Tadashi wants to do is go home and sleep.  Maybe for a week.  Maybe for a month.  He’s not too entirely picky to be honest. (stars and sea aka the YamaTsukki part of the dichotomy of you and me)

17. So.  Library.

Not exactly where he’d thought he’d be working when he was back in high school.  But it’s, objectively speaking, not the worst place he could be working.  Like sure it’s not quite as interesting as working at the aquarium like Watari.  But it’s also not as taboo sounding as working at a funeral place like Matsukawa.

So.  You know.  It’s not that bad. (past and future aka the KinKuni part of the dichotomy of you and me)

18. Tetsurou glances at the screen one last time before posting and immediately closing out of his browser and signing out of his email.  He shuts down his computer a moment later and stands with a quiet groan.  It’s been a shit day.  It’s not the worst Thursday of his life or anything like that.  Just.  A shit day.  All he wants to do is clock out and go the fucky doodle home.  Which is why he hurries past his boss’s office with his head down — he has the worst problem saying no when his boss asks him for things which is how he found himself with Social Media Coordinator tacked onto his business card a few months ago — and when he hear his boss’s door start to open he hurries a little faster and opts for taking the stairs down instead of waiting for the elevator. (body and soul aka the KuroKen part of the dichotomy of you and me)

19. Kei stretches idly as he waits for practice to start.  They’re already a few weeks into this year’s season but today they’re apparently waiting for their new team trainer.  Or assistant coach.  Or something.  He wasn’t entirely listening to the announcement from the captain yesterday.   (we’ll meet at the horizon aka my epic HinaTsukki slow burn)

20. He knows the moment the words leave his lips that he’s gone too far, that he’s made one too many jokes, said a few too many things he shouldn’t have.  He always screws up, is always too much for people to handle. ((don’t) write me an elegy of your past, love aka that AkaKuro & BokuDai fantasy au)

I have no idea if I have any patterns other than I go for humor, a lot.  And I can’t pick a favorite cause I love them all for different reasons.

[canid-slashclaw]

The Outliers - A Guild Wars Love Story

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9,  Chapters 10 and 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16 , Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 19, Chapter 20,  Chapter 21, Chapter 22, Chapter 23,  Chapter 24, Chapter 25, Chapter 26, Chapter 27, Chapter 28, Chapter 29, Chapter 30, Chapter 31, Chapter 32, Chapter 33 Chapter 34

The airship was abuzz with panicked passengers who ran about desperately across the decks. Several of the brigands brandished muskets and rapiers threatening to disembowel anyone who did not comply with their demands.

Kaleb ran up several flights of stairs while frisking his pockets, trying to find the keys to their honeymoon suite. Amalthia shook her head and groaned.

"You would lose your head if it weren't attached to your shoulders, you know that don't you?" She said to him in a patronizing tone.

"Hey. Cut me some slack, will ya? I thought I kept them in my pants pocket," Kaleb retorted.

"You thought wrong," she chuffed as several scared passengers ran down the stairs, some tripping over their own feet.

"I think this is the right hallway. Let's go!"

The husband and wife bounty hunters made a mad dash though the narrow passageway as Kaleb recognized the number to their luxury suite.

"This is it!"

"Still no keys, huh?"

"Well, don't you have a blowtorch stuffed somewhere under your garter?"

Amalthia looked at him and smiled as she gave him a lick on his cheek. "As a matter of fact I do."

She lifted up her skirt, revealing a small butane torch that she always kept with her in case of unseen emergencies.

"I'll just kick the door down. It's much faster," Kaleb said as he gave the sturdy wooden door a full-forced kick. To his chagrin, it didn't budge.

"Nice try, but you don't have the leverage. I'll just cut the hasps. The dummies who installed these doors forgot to put them on the inside."

Once the torch was lit, Amalthia began slicing through the door hinges. It took less than two minutes for them to be cut. After the doorway was weakened, they pulled it aside and rushed into their suite hoping to find their luggage. Moments later, the couple they had run into earlier at the dining hall appeared through the now gaping door frame.

"My gods! It's you two... did you not hear that there are..."

Amalthia cut the husband off in mid sentence. "Pirates. We know. Love, any luck with our suitcase?"

Kaleb rummaged through some smaller bags until he found the right one. "Got it!"

The woman interjected. "Harold. These are the same annoying people who were making all that racket last night."

"I think that's the least of our problems, dear. Hey guy. Leave the luggage. It's not worth your life," the woman's husband said.

"Tell me you have the key to our luggage. I hear more than one pair of unfriendly footsteps coming up fast," Amalthia said as she snarled in frustration.

Kaleb fished his pockets for a moment before locating what he needed to find.

"Key! Got it!"

With a quick twist of the locks, the suitcase opened revealing an arsenal of weapons. Kaleb reached for his two pistols while Amalthia quickly assembled her folded sniper rifle. Each of them also took a short sword then promptly strapped them to their hips.

"Oh my gods... just what kind of people are you??" The woman said just as Kaleb pointed his guns in her direction.

"The good kind. Duck!"

He unleashed two rounds that blew the heads off of two pirates who were just about to accost the newlyweds. Drenched in a spatter of blood and brain matter, the couple screamed in sheer terror as Amalthia calmly tried to wipe them down using a towel she had grabbed from the linen closet.

"Sorry for my husband ruining your dress. But don't worry, bleach should remove most of the stain."

The shocked couple did not budge.

Kaleb reached into his coat pocket, pulled out a couple of business cards then handed the cathartic husband and wife one each.

"We are the Outliers - Kaleb and Amalthia Grimwald-Steelblade - professional bounty hunters at your service. We specialize in undead, uncouth and unruly. Our prices are reasonable..."

"Kaleb. I really don't think they are interested in hearing our entire spiel at this time," Amalthia said as she glanced at one of the business cards. When she noticed something was printed in error, she snatched one of the cards from the hand of the still-as-a-statue man then showed it to her husband.

"Shit! They forgot to put a hyphen between our last names. After we just spent all that coin on these extra glossy..."

"Incoming!" Kaleb shouted as he unloaded more rounds into some oncoming brigands.

Amalthia's keen hearing allowed her to track the pirates' clanky weaponry from behind walls. As soon as several of them converged in an optimum spot, she loosed a high-powered round from her long rifle.

The sound of brief grunts followed by the thud of falling bodies echoed through the corridors.

"Load me up, love!" She said as Kaleb tossed her some extra magazines while she loped on all fours across the hall checking to see if the coast was clear.

"I promise I'll contact the print shop and have 'em print us up some new cards," Kaleb said while providing cover for his wife.

"You'd better!" Amalthia playfully snarled.

Kaleb stowed his revolvers then offered his hand to the cathartic couple. "Come with us if you want to not die."

"What kind of people carry stockpiles of weapons on their honeymoon?" The man asked in a panicked voice.

Amalthia backtracked upon hearing the comment then replied; "the kind that want to stay alive."

"You heard her. Hey honey... you should have let me bring Bob."

Kaleb's wife growled and shook her head. "Bob was over the size limit. So stop grousing over it and use what ya got."

He, then, pulled out his shortsword and grimaced. "This thing isn't big enough to skewer a skritt. Besides, I haven't even given it a name."

"Fine, call it Chuck."

"Chuck? Why that's a horrible name!" Kaleb shook his head in disagreement.

"It can't be much worse than Bob." Amalthia countered then stuck her tongue out at her husband.

"Oh Harold. This has turned out to be such an awful trip. This couple that happens to be just as weird as they are rude, just ruined our romantic getaway. And now that same weird, rude couple is in the middle of fighting a bunch of pirates who are hijacking our ship. ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME HAROLD??!"

Shaking in fear, her husband just hunkered down and said nothing.

"Warning, newly minted spouse about to lose it," Kaleb said as he deftly wielded his shortsword against some oncoming brigands by quickly felling them with swift strokes to their kneecaps.

"Make yourself useful, woman, and carry our luggage," Amalthia stated as she tossed the heavy suitcase to Harold's wife.

Deck by deck, the human-charr husband and wife team began clearing each hallway of scoundrels. Once they were finished, no less than twenty of the pirates lay dead. The remainder retreated from the ship using makeshift gliders.

In spite of the Zephyrites' philosophy of non-violence, the commander of the vessel thanked both Kaleb and Amalthia for their heroic deeds. For the remainder of their honeymoon, the pair was treated to free dinners and full use of the travel amenities.

On the final day of their trip, Kaleb and Amalthia were enjoying complimentary free massages as they sipped on a tall daiquiri that was shared between them.

"So you promise to get the hyphen added to between our names?" Amalthia asked as she took a big slurp from the frozen glass.

Kaleb took a long suck from the straw as well. "Promise. In fact, I'll shred every non-hyphenated name business card in our inventory."

"Good! I love you, you know," his wife said as she relaxed her muscles and purred in contentment.

"And I love you too. Hey. Look at the normal couple over there. I'll bet this is a trip they'll never forget," Kaleb said with a wide grin.

Amalthia reached over then took his hand and held it tightly. "That's the kind of effect we have on people. We are odd."

"We are bold," Kaleb said as he leaned over to kiss her.

The human and charr - who were now husband and wife - looked into each other's eyes and said in one chorus.

"We are Outliers!"

...the beginning.

(All chapters have been posted to AO3. Chapter 34 is posted here.)

[artificialqueens]

Flower Files, Part 1 (Tatiadore, Biaja) - Albatross

AN: A collection of short oneshots. Each one has a flower/plant theme. I’ll be posting them on AQ in batches of 2-3 depending on length.

Chapter 1: Tatiadore

Tatiana awoke to the sound of birds distantly chirping away outside her window and the warm rays of the sun beginning to light up her room. It was all very pleasant, especially for what was supposed to be a quiet Sunday at home with her girlfriend. Groggily, she stumbled out of bed and wandered over to their shared dresser. Her mind was still sleep-addled but something was trying to capture her attention. It was a brief whiff of some strange scent but in an instant,  it was gone. No matter how hard Tatianna tried to refocus on it, it had just disappeared. 

But that caused her attention to drift to another development…elsewhere in the apartment, there was another scent arising; that of cooking food.

A soft smile arose to her lips; Adore was making breakfast and from the smell of it, something with sweet peppers, onion and egg…perhaps a western omelette, or maybe just scrambled?

Hurrying to the bathroom, Tatianna resolved to take a quicker shower than normal. Usually she would stay in there for a good 20 minutes and just let herself relax under the spray but the delicious scent of breakfast waiting for her in the kitchen made her realize that she was utterly starving. And even more so, she just wanted to pull Adore into her arms once again, especially since she didn’t have a chance to upon first waking up.

So in record time, she had her teeth brushed and the shower warming up but while the bathroom steadily filled with steam, Tatianna realized that strange scent from before was somehow in here as well. This time it was stronger and lasted long enough for Tatianna to realize it was rather floral, but soon, thanks to the fan she had turned on in anticipation of a hot shower, the smell had disappeared once again.

Oh, well.

A brief 8 minutes later and Tatianna was clean, awake, and had changed into a fresh set of clothes; a simple cami and shorts ensemble but it was comfortable and cute.

Feeling much more like her normal self, she bounded into the kitchen to greet her girlfriend. Adore was still standing in front of the stove, poking her spatula at something sizzling in the pan and a cup of steaming tea close by on the countertop. She heard Tatianna arriving and spun around halfway to shoot her a warm, cheery grin. “Hey, baby,” she called out, not sounding entirely awake herself.

Tatianna was beginning to return the greeting but something caught her attention yet again; that same scent! It was here! But where…and why?

Adore caught the shift in Tatianna’s expression; it was so sudden and such an adorable mixture of confusion and concentration that Adore had to laugh. “Tati, baby,” she asked through her laughter, “what’s with that face?”

Distractedly, Tatianna wandered around the boundaries of the kitchen, sniffing here and there, while giving a vague reply of “I smell something…In the bedroom and bathroom…now here.”

“Breakfast?” Adore offered up, gesturing to the nearly finished food in her pan.

Shaking her head, Tatianna said, “No, not that…it’s like, flowery but not flowers…” She didn’t know just how to explain it, even now she was only catching short bursts of the scent, but it didn’t smell quite natural…no, more like a man-made attempt at a floral scent…in fact, it smelled a bit like- “you!” she exclaimed, finding the scent strongest near her girlfriend.

True, the smell of food covered it up quite a bit but it was definitely originating from Adore!

Puzzled, Adore murmured a soft, “Mm?” and stirred the food in the pan one last time before turning off the heat. Remember her own deviation in routine that morning she recalled, “Oh, yeah. I got some new perfume and wanted to try it out today…Rose. Like it?”

She glanced up to her girlfriend with the brightest, proudest smile…Nothing in the world could convince Tatianna not to return the gesture. Pressing a soft kiss to Adore’s lips, she answered, “Love…you.” Adore pouted. She really thought Tatianna would like the perfume more but oh, well. To each their own.

Tatianna wrapped her arms around Adore’s waist as she began splitting up the pan’s contents between the two plates in front of her. She nuzzled into Adore’s neck, loving the feel of her girlfriend’s body melting into hers, but she couldn’t resist letting one last comment slip out. Pressing another sweet kiss to Adore’s skin, she murmured, “And I’ll love you even if you wanna smell like an old lady every day.”

Snorting, Adore nearly doubled over as she tried to brace herself against the counter. “Well, fuck you, too, bitch,” she laughed out. “I like it though.”

Chapter 2: Biaja

It was about 2 in the afternoon when Raja’s phone began to buzz. Even without looking she already guessed it’d be her girlfriend. Tonight was supposed to be one of their stay-at-home date nights. Every month or so, they picked out a Friday where they would just spend a romantic evening at home, rather than going out to fancy restaurants or even double date with another couple. It was a chance to spend some quality time together, which had gotten a bit more difficult due to hectic work schedules.

‘Heyy!’ came Bianca’s first text. ‘Want me to pick up anything special for tonight?’

Raja smiled to herself. They already had their meal planned out; Raja would pick it up on her way home. Bianca had taken charge of finding dessert and figuring out which new movie release to watch. There didn’t seem to be much else that hadn’t already planned for…except perhaps one thing they both would enjoy.

Opening the text box, Raja quickly typed out ‘Rose’ but after staring at it for a good 10 seconds, it just didn’t look right.

Oh, right , Raja mused to herself, it’s missing the little accent thingy.

Finding the symbol was easy enough in her phone, the trouble was getting it over the ‘e’. No matter how she tried typing it out, the accent would appear as its own character either before or after the ‘e’ but never above. 

How do people do this? she stressed. She’d seen Bianca figure it out before so it can’t be that difficult. Eh, whatever. She knows what I mean.

And with that, she sent off the text to her partner. In less than a minute, Bianca replied back with a simple, ‘👍🏻’. 

Smiling to herself once again, she thought, Yeah, she gets me.

With that minor detail resolved, she returned back to her work, letting her mind drift every so often to how delicious their food was going to be or how much she was looking forward to emptying out that new bottle of wine during the movie.

******

With two oversized takeout bags and her purse in hand, Raja maneuvered the front door open as carefully as she could manage. She had made it only three steps inside before Bianca came rushing from the kitchen to meet her, one hand hidden behind her back. Raja was twisted around, unable to notice the odd behavior at first, and trying to close the door behind her. In the end she found herself having to settle on merely shunting the door closed with her foot and ignoring the loud clash as it met with the doorframe. Shifting back around to face her girlfriend, they shared a brief kiss as Bianca relieved her of one of the bags.

As they parted, a grin present on both of their lips, Bianca greeted her with a rather cheerful, “Hey, how was your day?”

“Great,” Raja replied, already feeling herself beginning to relax after such a long week and returned with an interested, “Yours?”

“Perfect,” Bianca beamed back. Very casually, she added in, “Picked up what you asked for.”

The statement immediately caught Raja’s attention. Perking back up, she questioned expectantly, “Yeah?”

Looking ever so proud of herself, Bianca withdrew the hand she had kept behind her back and presented Raja with a single long-stemmed, light pink rose. Snorting and nearly doubling over with laughter, Raja muttered to herself, “Oh my god.”

“Something wrong?” Bianca asked as her head tilted just slightly. Her brow was slightly furrowed in confusion, making her look utterly adorable in Raja’s eyes.

Through her laughter, Raja managed to explain, “Yes, no- I mean…I was trying to type out rosé and I couldn’t get that little dash thing over the ‘e’. So I just gave up and sent you, well, ‘rose’ instead.”

A look of guilt washed over Bianca’s face as she apologized, “Oh…I’m sorry, honey.”

Wrapping her free arm around Bianca’s waist, Raja pulled her in close and placed a quick peck to her cheek. “Don’t be, it’s my fault,” she assured her partner in a soft, amused voice. “Should’ve just sent a couple of wine emojis.”

“Yeah, that would’ve been much clearer,” Bianca agreed as her trademark smirk reappeared on her lips. Gently pulling away, she grabbed onto Raja’s hand and began leading her towards the kitchen. “Let’s get everything on plates and then we can eat. Dessert’s already laid out and the movie is set up in the living room.”

Raja followed closely behind with an eager grin but found herself stopping just inside the entryway to their kitchen. Laid out on the counter was no less than three bottles of her favorite brand of rosé. All of it was artfully surrounded by even more of those light pink roses and a few carefully scattered petals.

“Oh my god,” Raja gasped, grinning from ear to ear at the sight. Bianca truly does understand her.

Unfortunately that realization and moment of warmth was quickly interrupted by Bianca’s cackling of, “‘Little dash thing’?”

“Shut up!” Raja joked, laughing along with Bianca as they both set their bags onto the counter. “I tried, okay!”

“I’m sure you did, honey,” Bianca teased. “Pull out your phone and I’ll show you again how to do it.”

Retrieving her phone from her purse, Raja complained despite her ever present smile, “Still don’t understand how you figured it out before me.”

“Well, sweetheart,” Bianca mocked, “I might be shallow sometimes, but I’m not a complete idiot, at least not with my phone…or you.”

[night-filled-mountain]

Putting in a cut before I unload about a bunch of stuff going on in my life right now. See tags for content warnings. I, uh...did my best to hit them all.

Also, I don’t know what it is about the past few weeks, but a lot of people on my dash seem to be having a rough time. I just want to send out waves of strength and compassion to all of you. I really hope I can find the time and energy to send some messages at some point, and I’m sorry I’ve been super absent lately. Hopefully this laundry list of events will help explain why.

So, in the past three weeks, the following things have occurred at my workplace:

A teen came in with a stab wound. He asked me for a Band-Aid. He ended up at the hospital and is doing fine now. The men’s room, lobby, and front door looked like a murder scene. My boss and I stayed 45 minutes overtime so someone from facilities could clean up the blood.

A teen took one of the desktop computers out of the teen room, ran outside, smashed it on the ground, ran back in, grabbed another one, and ran off with that one too, all right in front of my colleagues and me.

A large group of teens started fighting in the library. Police were called, and the whole place was filled with the sounds of cops and teens screaming at each other. We went on semi-lockdown. My kids were scared to leave because they thought the cops would shoot them.

I asked two teens to sign in (which is mandatory), and they gave me a series of fake names. When I called them out on it, they threw several paper balls at me, pulled my chair out from under me, deliberately poured a drink out on the carpet, cursed me out repeatedly, and refused to leave until cops escorted them out, at which point they were still yelling “This bitch needs to mind her own business” over their shoulders.

Despite receiving legal trespass letters, they came back again. Twice. Both occasions were variations on the former scene. I began to have severe anxiety symptoms and flashbacks to some 20-year-old shit I thought I was very much over by now, and for the first time, started very, very seriously considering a change of workplace.

Cops started just...hanging out in the teen room. Constantly. They interrupted a weekly poetry program to intimidate the kids and offend the (awesome) teacher. One teen went off on them and got trespassed for two weeks.

I took one (1) weekend off so Kit, Dragon, and I could go visit Unicorn in New Jersey, kick back, watch a bunch of movies, discuss our D&D campaign, and seriously launch our apartment hunt, because We Are All Moving In Together At The End Of The Summer.

During this, my vacation weekend, the librarian who was covering for me had a horrible, ugly, semi-physical confrontation with a teen who’s been coming to the library since he was six, who I have actively watched turn from Mischievous Computer Nerd to Obviously Traumatized Nightmare Child while flailing with the fruitless desire to Do Something To Help Him. Said teen got an indefinite trespass from all library locations.

My predecessor/mentor/the coolest teen librarian on earth texted me frantically trying to find out what happened, because she saw the trespass letter and was super close with this teen back in the day. I could not tell her what happened, since I was not there.

The librarian involved in the aforementioned incident--who is an incredibly sensitive and delicate soul--seems to have gone AWOL. He was out yesterday, he was out today, he’s out tomorrow. My boss asked me to come in on this, my day off, because we are so short-staffed. I said no to overtime for the second time in my life. (The other was last week.)

I lost three of my work keys. Just...lost them. I have no idea where the hell they went. I’ve been searching home and work frantically for days, and have yet to tell my boss or any but one coworker. The anxiety of this alone has been plaguing me pretty much 24/7.

It’s that time of month, because of course it fucking is, and my endo symptoms have kicked into really high gear, because...of course they have. It’s been almost as bad as it was before I got an IUD. I’ve been getting hit with bouts of crippling abdominal/back/leg pain, waking up around 3 or 4 in the morning, kept awake for hours by this pain, falling asleep again only to have weird, restless dreams and, on one occasion, a horrific nightmare that came for all my real-life anxieties and left me ruined the next morning. My serotonin is practically down to zero. Depression and irritability are coming for me chemically on a daily basis, even apart from everything else that’s going on.

I changed my Thursday hours this week to 12-8 (they’re usually 10-6) so I could supervise a program that I was very proud of having booked. It was super popular with the teens over the summer, and I’ve been trying to bring it back for ages. I’ve been advertising it by every method available, and the kids are all excited for it. ...They just canceled on me last-minute.

My dad--the family member I am closest to by far, whom I love to distraction--called me tonight to say he’s in the hospital. He went to the ER for severe pain, jaundice, nausea, and malaise. Fortunately, it’s just gallstones...probably. But he’s having surgery tomorrow. And I’m going to be thinking about that all day long, while I work in this absolute nightmare of a teen room until 8:00 at night, with no keys, no awesome program, no physical or emotional resources left to even remotely handle any of it.

...After this list, it’s going to sound insane to add that there have also been good things that happened this month, this week, even today. There have been! Truly! I have the world’s most enviable support network of spouse and family and friends-who-are-family. I have done fun things and productive things. But dear gods, it’s been one thing after another after another after another, and tomorrow is starting to feel like some kind of crescendo for all this built-up dread. I’ve rarely made those posts that are like “Please distract me with fun asks” or “Send me cute pictures” or whatever, but, like. If you read all the way to the end of this list of pure unadulterated stress and want to offer any form of encouragement at all, I certainly won’t say no.

[puroresu-musings]

NJPW THE NEW BEGINNING in Sapporo 2020 Review (Feb 1st & 2nd, Hokkaido Prefectual Sports Centre)

(Feb 1st)

Tiger Mask & Yuya Uemura vs. El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori  ***

Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma & Toa Henare vs. Manabu Nakanishi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Yota Tsuji  **1/4

Will Ospreay, Ryusuke Taguchi, SHO & YOH vs. Zack Sabre Jr., El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI  ***1/4

Ryu Lee & Robbie Eagles vs. Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI   ***1/2

Tetsuya Naito & SANADA vs. KENTA & Jay White  **3/4

Kazuchika Okada & Jon Moxley vs. Minoru Suzuki & Taichi  ***1/2

Tomohiro Ishii vs. EVIL  ****

NEVER OPENWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Hirooki Goto (c) vs. Shingo Takagi  ****1/2

(Feb 2nd)

Toa Henare vs. Yota Tsuji  ***

Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma & Yuya Uemura vs. Manabu Nakanishi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Tiger Mask  **1/2

El Phantasmo vs. Gabriel Kidd  ***

Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & Robbie Eagles vs. Shingo Takagi, EVIL & BUSHI  ***3/4

Jon Moxley, Ryusuke Taguchi, SHO & YOH vs. Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI  ***3/4

Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & Hiromu Takahashi vs. KENTA, Jay White & Taiji Ishimori  ***1/2

BRITISH HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Will Ospreay  ****3/4

Kazuchika Okada vs. Taichi  ****1/4

Photos.

The New Beginning shows kicked off with a two night stint in Sapporo, as has been the tradition of the last three years or so. Night 2 was great, but the first night of action suffered from a smaller house and a very cold crowd, which hurt pretty much every match on the card (you could easily have added an extra 1/4* at least to everything, had there been a better crowd). The audience had maybe 80% more face masks than usual, likely down to ongoing concerns regarding the Corona Virus, and as a result, it is obviously dificult to make much noise in a face mask, hence the unusual tepid response from the Hokkaido faithful.

The first night really picked up when Hiromu and Ryu Lee faced off for the first time since Takahashi broke his neck in 2018, in a very good doubles clash. On any other day, in front of any other crowd, this would have been easily a **** match, but alas, it wasn’t. It was still a fun, all-action outing, with the Lee/Hiromu exchanges being the undoubted highlight. The finish saw Robbie Eagles tap BUSHI out with the Ron Miller Special at the 11:47 mark, and set himself up as a potential next challenger to the Jr. strap, after Lee. Jay White pinned SANADA to further build heat for their impending match at Osaka-jo Hall next week in a decent, though overly long (18:42) tag match which built around Naito and KENTA’s fiery exchanges. This wasn’t anywhere near as good as the New Year Dash encounter between these teams, as it had a fraction of the crowd heat. Minoru Suzuki pinned US Champion Jon Moxley at 17:48 to end another decent doubles outing. This had some flaws that really hindered it, namely a lack of any real heat, and some really slopy exchanges at times, but was never anything other than entertaining. Taichi destroyed Okada in the post match with his mic stand. Okada made a comeback, but Zack Sabre Jr came in and locked a sleeper on, which brought out Will Ospreay, who was taken out with Zack’s Michinoku Driver. Taichi nailed Okada wih the dreaded Iron Fingers From Hell, a Black Mephisto on the ramp, then locked in the Stretch Plumb. This did a really good job building Night 2′s top matches.

Things really picked up next with the Ishii vs. EVIL match. Whilst this built to a hot closing stretch, there were moments where this was perfromed in front of almost total silence, which again, really brought this one down. After the usual EVIL chair nonesense, they started swinging for the fences which woke the crowd up. They slammed into each other with hard shoulder tackles and Lariats, before EVIL escapes a brainbuster attempt, hitting a German and the half-and-half suplex, only for Ishii to fire back with a big Dragon Suplex of his own. EVIL fought back immediately with a headbutt and Lariat for a near fall. After an exchange of Lariats, Ishii nailed some headbutts, another big Lariat, and the Vertical Drop Brainbuster to take the win at 21:14. As I say, this ended up being an excellent match, they won the crowd over in the last few minutes, but it took a while getting there. 

And in the main event, Hirooki Goto defended the NEVER Openweight Title against Shingo Takagi. This is their third match together, and I had their previous two at ****3/4 each. Watching this show, I just knew they probably weren’t going to reach those heights. And unfortunatley, they didn’t, but still had another excellent battle regardless. Again, much like the previous match, the same old story here was the quiet crowd, as these guys worked their behinds off, having a really hard-hitting and compelling bout. The closing stretch saw Shingo hit a second rope Death Valley Bomb for a near fall, and Goto hit his old Kaiten sunset flip bomb off the top for a near fall of his own. They had an exchange, before Goto hit a draping reverse GTR for another near fall. Shingo hits his own version of GTR, then scores a near fall with a massive Pumping Bomber. Goto turns a Last Of The Dragon attempt into Shouten Kai for another great near fall, and they had an intense headbutt and forearm exchange, which was the loudest reaction all night. Goto nails a headbutt, then the reverse GTR. he tries the regular version, but Takagi turns it into Made In Japan for a near fall. Shingo follows that up with Last Of The Dragon to end the match and win the title at the 20:10 mark. As I’ve written ad nauseam in this review, the lack of crowd heat was a pretty big detriment to this show, and nowhere was it more obvious than here. This could easily have been a MOTY contender in front of another crowd, but as it is, it was just excellent. Though I must say, I’m very excited about the Shingo win here as it offers up a plethora of potentially great programs, whereas realistically, there wasn’t much more Goto was going to do with the belt. He had a brief exchange with SHO in the post match, which should be interesting.

The second night had a considerably livlier, and bigger crowd (over a thousand more) which enhanced this show exponentially. The first great match of this show saw the CHAOS trio of Ishii, Goto and Robbie Eagles, victorious over the LIJ team of Shingo, EVIL and BUSHI. Shingo and Ishii brief battle was the highlight here, and I hope we get to see a NEVER title encounter between the two soon. The finish saw Eagles lock BUSHI in the Ron Miller Special as Goto and Ishii both hit Ushigoroshi’s on Shingo and EVIL respectively, meaning the masked man had no choice but to tap at 9:42. Eagles gets another big win here. Moxley and Suzuki had a wild, non-stop brawl throughout the next 8 man tag, which was better than anything either did the previous night. Taguchi submitted DOUKI with the Ankle Lock after 13 minutes of fun action, to score another big win himself, as Moxley and Suzuki brawled through the crowd to the back. There’s a chance that Funky Weapon is also being built to challenge for the Junior Title at some point soon. And in another all-action outing, SANADA submitted Ishimori with Skull End to win a very good 15:34 bout. Everyone looked really good here, and again, the story was KENTA and Naito’s brawling, hyping up their Double Title Match next week.

The British Heavyweight Title Match between ZSJ and Will Ospreay was, by far, the best match all weekend. This was a fantastic outing between two of the smoothest, most consistent workers out there today. It went 27:04, but never felt like it, and I probably could have easily watched an hour of this. It started off as a great technical battle, before breaking down into the big moves and near falls you’d expect. The story to this was that Ospreay has never beaten Zack, and with the title being on the line for the first time ever in Japan against two native British wrestlers, Will was more determined than ever. ZSJ constanly had a counter to Will’s signature spots, but Ospreay would always find a way out of Sabre’s counters. After countering a Hidden Blade into a Breaks Special, Ospreay made the ropes. Zack tried the Michinoku Driver, but Will turns it into a reverse brainbuster for a two count. Ospreay escapes a European Cluthc and hits a big head kick, then they had a great sequence in which Sabre Jr kept escaping Storm Breaker attempts, finally locking in a triangle, but Ospreay free’d himself with a powerbomb. A Shooting Star Press gets a near fall for Ospreay. Will tries Storm Breaker again, but ZSJ turns it into a Manjigatame, then pulls Ospreay to the mat, turning it into a grounded Cobra Twist, the same move he won their G1 match with, and adds a leg triangle for added measure. Will struggles for the ropes but eventually passes out, and Red Shoes calls for the stoppage win for Sabre. This was an incredible, and almost perfect wrestling contest.

This left a lot for the main event to follow, but whilst it wasn’t as good, they still had an excellent match. The major problem with this is that nobody, not even in his hometown, realistically bought Taichi having a snowballs chance in Hell of winning this one. And to make things even more problematic, it went a whopping, and completely unnecessary 31 minutes. Had this been 10 minutes shorter, it would have been even better, but it did get a bit long in the tooth. It started slow (really slow), but the final 12 minutes were great. After bludgeoning Okada with a chairshot, and getting a near fall with an Axe Bomber, Taichi went to the old Kawada play book, hitting a head kick and locking on the Stretch Plumb, but Okada refuses to quit. Taichi lets go and makes the cover for a near fall. Okada hits the dropkick, but Taichi counters a Rainmaker attempt into another Stretch Plumb, but Okada escapes, trying a Tombstone. Taichi escapes that and hits the Dangerous Backdrop three times, for a great near fall. They traded Yakuaza Kicks in the middle, before Taichi hits a dropkick of his own, and goes for Black Mephisto, but Okada counters into a short Rainmaker. Okada tries another, but Taichi bumps the ref, hits a low blow, and a super close near fall with the Gedo Clutch. Taichi back to the Kawada playbook with a Gamengiri and the folding press Powerbomb gets another near fall, but Okada caught a Superkick and hit the spinning Tombstone, then the Rainmaker to end the match at 30:53. Okada told Taichi to “go home” in the post match, thanked the fans for coming out, and told them he’d see them on the impending Hokaido tour in July.

NDT

[creativerogues]

A Chronomancer’s Guide: Chronomancy Spells & Ideas

Playing an “Official” Chronomancer...

While there’s no Chronomancer Subclass for 5th Edition from Wizards of the Coast, there are still ways to create a Chronomancer-Like Character with the Official Rules.

One way is to just take the Divination Wizard, get some divination spells that let you determine fate, see the future, change the attack rolls and ability checks of yourself and others, and throw in some Spells like Slow, Haste and Time Stop and boom! An Unofficial Chronomancer...

In terms of Feats, I think the best Feat to fit the idea of a Chronomancer, a Master of Time and Space, is Keen Mind.

Keen Mind You have a mind that can track time, direction, and detail with uncanny precision. You gain the following benefits: • Increase your Intelligence score by 1, to a maximum of 20. • You always know which way is north. • You always know the number of hours left before the next sunrise or sunset. • You can accurately recall anything you have seen or heard within the past month.

First off, a bonus to Intelligence, great for a Wizard Chronomancer, second, you always know the number of hours left before the next sunrise or sunset and can  accurately recall anything you have seen or heard within the past month because Time Magic and Stuff...

I think it’s a good feat, but let’s get on to the more important things, Spells!

I’ve already made a shortlist just from scanning through the Books on what I think a Chronomancer has:

1st Level

Longstrider: Cause Yourself or Another Creature to move faster.

Expeditious Retreat: Cause Yourself to move faster.

Feather Fall: Slow the descent of Yourself and Other Creatures.

2nd Level

Misty Step: Bamf across the battlefield!

Continual Flame: Manipulate a Flame to burn forever.

Blur: Thinking of this like moving from one space to another so fast the enemy can’t figure out your true location...

Hold Person: Freeze a Creature in place.

3rd Level

Slow: Cause time to slow for Creatures in an area.

Haste: Cause time to flow faster for Yourself or Another Creature.

Blink: Bamf around the battlefield again and again!

4th Level

Fabricate: Think of it like putting everything on fast-forward until the material is crafted...

Dimension Door: Think of it like manipulating space to bamf back to a place you remember...

5th Level

Teleportation Circle: Another bamf spell to get you around.

Modify Memory: Cause a person to remember events that never happened (at least not in this timeline...)

Legend Lore: Recall all the information and history of an person, place or object.

Far Step: Yet another bamf spell! (Because Time & Space are linked bro!)

6th Level

Contingency: What sounds more Chronomancer-Like than casting a Spells days or weeks in advance with a specific circumstance. (Think you’re about to drown and don’t have much left? Well luckily you cast Water Breathing a week ago for this specific scenario...)

7th Level

Reverse Gravity: Manipulating time and space, and in my mind, that includes gravity...

Teleport: Again, bamfing to a place you know (or don’t!)

Delayed Blast Fireball: It’s like Fireball, but delayed, because Time Magic!

9th Level

Wish: Wish let’s you do anything, including undoing a single recent event by forcing a re-roll of any roll made within the last round (including your last turn) and reality reshapes itself to accommodate for the new result...

Time Stop: You stop time, I think that’s obvious...

Foresight: You see the future. (Maybe flavor this to be you sending your mind into each of the possible timelines for the future and seeing every single solution before making a decision...)

Using 3rd Party Content to make your Chronomancer...

Now, if you can convince your DM to let you play a Timey-Wimey Spacebender, then ask if you can use some 3rd Party Content, because there’s some great stuff out there that I think is really neat, and some of the 3rd Party Spells that have been created are pretty much “Time Magic” Spells anyways.

I’ve put a few of my personal favorites here:

Matt Mercer’s Dunamancy

For those that don’t know, Dunamancy is a homebrew School of Magic created by none other than the DM of Critical Role himself, Matt Mercer.

Dunamis appears to heavily rely on quantum mechanics, including the Many Worlds Interpretation that results in multiple versions of us existing based on the possibilities explored or left to explore to another version of ourselves in another timeline. 

However, having much more experience with this magic, dunamancers seem able to call upon their alternate selves to aid them in battle, in the forms of shadowy echoes.

And while there’s no published Subclass of Dunamancy, Matt has showcased a few Dunamancy Spells and Abilities on the show already:

Gift of Alacrity

1st-level

Target gains +1d8 to initiative rolls for 8 hours.

Fortune's Favor

2nd-level

Target gains 1 Fragment of Possibility for 1 hour.

Compress Gravity

Compress Gravity causes targets to make a Constitution saving throw. The targets take force damage and their speed is reduced to half for one round.

Vacuum Blast

Creatures in a 20 foot radius around a point of the caster's choosing make a Constitution saving throw and take force damage.

Gravity Well (Ability). After affecting another creature with any spell effect, a Mage could use this ability to push the target 10 feet in any direction of their choice.

Manifest Echo (Bonus Action). A Mage can summon an echo of themselves on their turn that is able to cast a spell on its own, in addition to allowing the Mage themselves to cast another spell at the same time...

Chronomancy Spells - Middle Finger of Vecna

The Middle Finger of Vecna, while not an Actual Magic Item, is a great blog that creates some amazing and sometimes hilarious spells, subclasses, homebrew rules, monsters and magic items...

Their content is incredibly well-worded and well-done, and I’ve used it in several of the previous campaigns I’ve been in and DM’d for...

Delay

2nd-level transmutation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 60 feet

Components: V, S, M (a small crystal)

Duration: Instantaneous

You briefly slow time for a creature of your choice that you can see within range. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be moved to last place in the initiative order from the beginning of the next round onward.

Temporal Reversion

5th-level transmutation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Touch

Components: V, S

Duration: Instantaneous

The wounds of a creature you touch travel back in time to before they were inflicted. The creature regains hit points equal to 7d4 + your spellcasting ability modifier. This healing works as normal on undead and constructs.

Restore Youth

3rd-level transmutation (ritual)

Casting Time: 8 hours

Range: Touch

Components: V, S, M (gold dust worth at least 500gp, which the spell consumes)

Duration: Instantaneous

You perform a long, complex ritual on another creature, reducing its apparent age by 3d10 years, to a minimum of 13 years. This effect does not extend the creature’s lifespan.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 6th level or higher, the healing increases by 1d4 for each slot level above 5th.

Mass Haste

7th-level transmutation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 30 feet

Components: V, S, M (a shaving of liquorice root)

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

Choose up to three willing creatures that you can see within range. Until the spell ends, the targets' speeds are doubled, they gain a +2 bonus to AC, have advantage on Dexterity saving throws, and it gain an additional action on each of their turns. That action can be used only to take the Attack (one weapon attack only), Dash, Disengage, Hide, or Use an Object action.

When the spell ends, the targets can’t move or take actions until after their next turn, as a wave of lethargy sweeps over them.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 8th level or higher, you can target one additional creature for each slot level above 7th.

Lesser Time Stop

7th-level transmutation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Self

Components: V

Duration: Instantaneous

You briefly stop the flow of time for everyone but yourself. No time passes for other creatures, while you take 2 turns in a row, during which you can use actions and move as normal.

This spell ends if one of the actions you use during this period, or any effects that you create during this period, affects a creature other than you or an object being worn or carried by someone other than you.

In addition, the spell ends if you move to a place more than 300 feet from the location where you cast it.

Evasiveness

5th-level transmutation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Touch

Components: V, M (a scrap of silk)

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour

You touch a willing creature. Until the spell ends, the target gains a superhuman ability to dodge attacks. The target’s AC becomes 22, if it were lower, regardless of what kind of armor it is wearing.

This spell puts enormous strain on the target’s body. After the spell ends, the target gains one level of exhaustion.

Kobold Press: Deep Magic - Time Magic

Deep Magic: Time Magic by Kobold Press brings the secrets of temporal magic into your 5e campaign, featuring a bunch of new time-related spells that allow you speed up and slow down time and even force enemies into a constant time loop!

Again, I’ve used a lot of their Deep Magic content and I strongly suggest that you take a good look at their other stuff.

And while I obviously can’t just spit everything out in a Post here, I’m gonna share some of the Spells that I think are perfect for a Chronomancer...

Quicken

Transmutation Cantrip

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Touch

Components: V, S

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You touch one willing creature. Once before the spell ends, the target can roll a d4 and add the number rolled to its next initiative roll or Dexterity saving throw. The target can roll the die before or after the d20 roll. The spell then ends.

Withered Sight

1st-level necromancy

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 30 feet

Components: V, S, M (a dried lizard's eye)

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You cause the eyes of a creature you can see within range to age rapidly. The target must make a Constitution saving throw. If it fails, the creature has disadvantage on Perception rolls and attack rolls. An affected creature repeats the saving throw at the end of its turn, ending the effect with a success. This spell has no effect on a creature that is blind or that doesn’t use its eyes to see.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, you can target one additional creature for each slot level above 1st.

Decelerate

2nd-level transmutation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 60 feet

Components: V, S, M (a toy top)

Duration: 1 minute

You slow the flow of time around a creature. The creature must make a successful Wisdom saving throw or its speed is halved (rounded up to the nearest 5-foot increment). Until the effect ends, the creature’s speed is halved again at the start of each of your turns.

For example, a character with a speed of 30 feet fails its saving throw, dropping its speed to 15 feet. At the start of your next turn, the creature’s speed drops to 10 feet, then to 5 feet on the following round.

Decelerate can’t reduce a creature’s speed to less than 5 feet. The spell ends after 1 minute or when the target uses its action to make a successful Wisdom saving throw.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, you can affect an additional creature for each slot level above 3rd.

Time Step

2nd-level conjuration

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Self

Components: V

Duration: Instantaneous

You briefly step forward in time. You disappear from your location and reappear at the beginning of your next turn in a location within 30 feet of the space you disappeared from. You can’t be affected by anything that happens during the interval you’re missing, and you aren’t aware of anything that happens during that time.

Accelerate

3rd-level transmutation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Touch

Components: V, S, M (a toy top)

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

Choose up to three willing creatures within range, which may include you. Until the end of the spell, the target's movement speed doubles. The target can also take a bonus action on each of its turns. This bonus action can only be used to take the Dash action.

In addition, the creature has advantage on Dexterity saving throws while under the effect of this spell.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, you can affect an additional creature for each slot level above 3rd.

Time Loop

6th-level transmutation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 30 feet

Components: V, S, M (a metal loop)

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You capture the target in a loop of time. The creature is teleported to the space where it began its previous turn. The target then makes a Wisdom saving throw.

If it succeeds, the spell’s effect ends.

If it fails, the creature must repeat the actions it took on its previous turn, following the same sequence of moves and actions to the best of its ability.

It doesn’t need to move along the same path or attack the same target, but if it moved, then attacked, on its previous turn, its only option is to move, then attack, this turn.

If the space where the target began its previous turn is occupied or it’s impossible for the target to take the same action (if it cast a spell but it’s now unable to do so, for example), the target is incapacitated.

An affected target repeats the saving throw at the end of its turn, ending the effect on itself on a success.

For as long as the duration lasts, the target teleports back to its starting point at the start of each of its turns and it must repeat the same sequence of moves and actions.

Strongholds & Followers: The Chronos Codex

Strongholds and Followers is an absolutely amazing book by MCDM Productions and another book I highly recommend you take a look at.

But in particular, the Magic Items Section of the Book, which provides a series of very powerful, artifact level books called Codices.

And one book in particular, the Chronos Codex, focuses on time manipulation.

Here’s just a taste of the few things it can do:

Summon Temporal Duplicate: Once per month as an action, you can summon a version of yourself from the future.

It is one possible version of your future character. It has your stats but is four levels higher and may have different items or even spells, at your GM’s discretion.

You have no control over your temporal duplicate, but it is a version of you and will probably help you out. Because it is from one possible future, it is experiencing one possible past and may not remember the situation it finds itself in, because it never experienced this past.

The duplicate remains in this manifold of the timescape for 4 + 1d4  rounds, after which it returns to its own time.

If it drops to 0 hit points, it automatically returns — unconscious — to its original manifold.

While you are attuned to the book, the GM may ask you to make a percentile roll at random moments. If you roll a 100, you disappear for 4 + 1d4 rounds, as you are relentlessly pulled backward into an alternate past to serve a version of yourself four levels lower.

Nomad of the Timescape: You cease aging.

As an action once per year, you may sacrifice any number of Hit Dice to move forward or backward in time by a hundred years per Hit Die sacrificed.

You can observe and interact with, but cannot change, the past or future.

Because of the manifold nature of the timescape, the past or future you find yourself in may not be your past or future.

While in another temporal manifold, you sacrifice 1 Hit Dice at the end of each week.

Blink of an Eye: As an action, you can sacrifice any number of Hit Dice to take an equal number of turns in a row.

Other features allow you to travel literally thousands of years into the past or future, and others let you mess with the order of Initiative thanks to some handy time magic, which I think is such an interesting mechanic that you never see a lot of in 5th Edition...

But, if you have a high level ‘Chronomancer’ Wizard, and they don’t have a lot of Magic Items, then I think this little Magic Book could definitely hold some success for them in the future... 

Homebrewing Your Chronomancer...

So now that we've gotten past how to make an 'Official' Chronomancer, and how to make one using the 3rd Party Content that's already out there, let's talk about making a Homebrew Chronomancer...

Old School Chronomancy Spells (For Fifth Edition...)

Now, back in ye olden days, there were genuine Chronomancers in the Forgotten Realms and in D&D, but it wasn’t long until people realized how messing with time can mess with the canon of a setting, and just as quickly as it arrived, the Chronomancy School of Magic left...

But it did have some great spells, which I think can be easily adapted to 5th Edition D&D without being too game-breaking...

Zwei’s Extension

4th Level

Casting Time: 1 Action

Range: Self

Components: V

Duration: Instantaneous

Classes: Wizard

Choose a spell of 3rd Level or Lower that you can cast and has a Casting Time of 1 Action.

You cast that spell, called the Extended Spell, as part of casting Zwei’s Extension, expending Spell Slots for both, but the Extended Spell has double its duration, to a maximum duration of 1 Day.

Permanency

9th Level

Casting Time: 1 Minute

Range: Self

Components: V, S

Duration: Until Dispelled

Classes: Wizard

Choose a spell of 4th Level or Lower that you can cast, that has a Casting Time of 1 Minute or less, and that can target only a single creature.

You cast that spell, called the Permanent Spell, as part of casting Permanency, expending Spell Slots for both, but the Permanent Spell comes into effect with an infinite duration, and no longer requires Concentration from the Caster.

For example, a Permanency Spell cast See Invisibility allows you to see Invisible creatures and Objects as if they were visible until you choose to dispel this effect.

While standing within a Field of Anti-Magic or a Similar Effect, the effects brought on by a Permanency Spell are suppressed, these effects cease to be suppressed as soon as you exit.

Temporal Stasis

8th Level

Casting Time: 1 Minute

Range: Touch

Components: V, S, M (A powder composed of diamond, emerald, ruby, and sapphire dust with a total value of at least 5,000 gp.)

Duration: Until Dispelled

Classes: Wizard

You place the Creature into a state of suspended animation.

For the creature, time ceases to flow and its condition becomes fixed. The creature does not grow older. Its body functions virtually cease, and no force or effect can harm it.

This state persists until the magic is removed (such as by a successful Dispel Magic spell or a Wish spell), or until you choose to end it.

Wesley's Delayed Damage

5th Level

Casting Time: 1 Action

Range: Self

Components: V, S

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 Minute

Classes: Wizard

You create a field of temporal flux around you, intercepting physical attacks and shifting all or part of the effects into the future, allowing you time to prepare...

When a creature successfully hits you with a melee or ranged weapon attack, half the damage is applied immediately, and the other half is put off for the duration of the spell, or until you lose concentration.

This delays the need for healing, but be cautious not to lose track of the time since casting.

After the first turn, the spell could expire at any moment, and all deffered damage is then applied at once, which could easily kill the caster...

Effects from the Fifth Edition Monster Manual, changed into ‘Chronomancer Abilities’

A lot of Abilities from the Monsters in the 5th Edition Monster Manual can easily be changed to suit a Chronomancer Wizard, just take a look!

Great Haste (Ghost - Horrifying Visage)

Each creature within 60 feet of you that you can see must succeed on a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the target ages 1d4 X 10 years.

If a target’s saving throw is successful, the target is immune to the spell’s effects for the next 24 hours. The aging effect can be reversed with a Greater Restoration spell, but only within 24 hours of it occurring. 

This spell has no effect on Undead or constructs.

Taken from the Stats of a Ghost in the Monster Manual, ‘Horrifying Visage’, renamed here to ‘Great Haste’, could easily be a high level spell for a Chronomancer, possibly inflicting some Force Damage or negative effect to the creatures that fail, such as disadvantage on Strength, Dexterity or Constitution checks and saving throws...

Temporal Strike

Melee Weapon Attack: One Creature. Hit: Normal Weapon’s Damage plus 8d12 Psychic Damage.

The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or move 1 round forward in time. A target moved forward in time vanishes for the duration. When the effect ends, the target reappears in the space it left or in an unoccupied space nearest to that space if it’s occupied.

Taken from the Stats of a Githzerai Enlightened, this ability literally lets you punch, kick and whack your foes through time...

And with some editing, it could easily be a high level spell, or some kind of Chronomancer Subclass Ability...

Change Gravity 

You cast the Reverse Gravity spell. The spell has the normal effect, except that you can orient the area in any direction and creatures and objects fall toward the end of the area.

Taken from the Stats of a Githzerai Anarch, this feature could oh-so-easily just be an ability for a Chronomancer, changing time and space...

But could also just become a higher level version of Reverse Gravity, so I’d say Change Gravity could be an 8th Level Spell, since Reverse Gravity is 7th Level and we don’t want that Chronomancer getting this thing for free...

Other Effects & Ideas

And as we come to a close on this VERY long Post, here’s just a few of my unfinished thoughts and ideas that you might want to throw into your game, maybe as a Magic Item for a Chronomancer, maybe it’s an Ability a Monster has, or maybe you’re gonna take these ideas and build a Chronomancy subclass over it, I don’t know...

Ability: Grant an Ally advantage on Attack Rolls for the next 3 Rounds of Combat.

Collapse Time (Flavored Version of ‘Power Word Kill’): If the Target has 100 Hit Points or Fewer, it explodes and dies.

At ___th level, you cease aging.

At ___th level, when you cast a Spell with a casting time of 1 Action, you can spend a Spell Slot of the Spell's Level or Higher to reduce the casting time for this Spell to 1 Bonus Action.

At ___th level, you can cast the Haste Spell without expending a Spell Slot, but the Spell affects only you. Once you cast Haste in this way, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest. You can still cast it normally using an available spell slot.

At ___th level, you add the Haste Spell to your Spellbook, if it is not there already. You never suffer the negative after effects of the Haste Spell and can act normally when the Spell ends.

When you are surprised at the beginning of an encounter, you can choose to expend a Spell Slot of 1st Level or Higher to not be surprised. 

When you need to make a Dexterity saving throw, you can choose to expend a Spell Slot of 1st Level or Higher to make the saving throw with advantage.

You become proficient in the History and Arcana skills if you are not already proficient..

[greene-rph]

How to Generate RP Activity and Approach RP Partners

Whether you’re a brand new blog, you’re coming back from hiatus, or just experiencing a lull in interactions / activity, I thought I would share how I generate blog activity. 

Your dashboard. So what generates the most interactions is always what’s happening on your dash. If your dashboard is slow or always populated by the same blogs, or doesn’t inspire activity, then this is where you need to start. 

How many blogs are you following? You can check your following list from the dashboard sidebar menu. If you use the xkit extension, you are also able to view how many of these blogs are inactive (or haven’t posted in a month or more). Everyone’s preference here is different, but for me, I like to be following around 100 blogs at any given time. 

Granted, 10% of these may be old friends who are taking a break from their blogs and are not active, and another 15-20% are non-roleplay blogs that post content related to my muse (their faceclaim, their aesthetic, info related to their profession / hobbies, etc.). 

For me personally, not all of the roleplay blogs I follow are characters I would want my muse to interact with. Sometimes I follow a blog simply because I appreciate their character, their writing, or their friendship. Even though I may not be interacting in character with these blogs now, I may do so in the future, especially if one of us changes muses, and even if we never interact in character, I find it beneficial to interact out of character. You never know how you might meet a new friend or what might inspire new ideas for aus, meta posts, how you organize your blog, and other aspects of roleplay that are not muse or fandom specific. 

Of course, the majority of the blogs that I follow are active roleplay blogs that I am potentially interested in interacting with. I personally like to wait a week or two before interacting with a new follow so that I can get a feel for their content, style, and personality, just to make sure that this person would make a good fit as a partner for me, but if you’re eager to make friends and not worried about it, you can go ahead and jump in by contacting potential partners. 

Contacting a roleplayer. Before you contact a roleplayer about potentially writing together, it is VERY IMPORTANT that you take a quick minute to review their rules, as there may be very pertinent information that you need to be aware of, including if this person is PRIVATE. If a roleplayer has the word private anywhere on their blog or in their rules, it means you need to wait for them to follow you back before you interact with them. I know this can be difficult when they look like a super cool person and they write a character you really want to interact with, but the most important thing to consider in roleplay is the person behind the screen. A roleplayer who is private might have chosen this policy for a variety of reasons, but what matters is that we respect their boundaries. If a private roleplayer follows you back, or if a roleplayer is not private, then go ahead and reach out!

When contacting a potential new roleplay partner, I like my message to follow a basic formula: first, I introduce myself. Hi there, I’m Chaya. I personally consider an introduction to be a prerequisite for initiating roleplay. To me, it acknowledges the other person as a human and not just a writer. If you like, you can even let this person know what drew you to their blog. I really love your interpretation of xyz - or even just, I love your blog. 

The second part of my approach is asking if this person might be interested in writing together. However, for me personally, I don’t like to suggest writing together without at least throwing out one or two plot ideas off the top of my head. In my mind, it feels like showing up to a fancy party without bringing wine or cupcakes. I always like to bring some ideas to the table outright to let this person know I appreciate their consideration and I don’t expect them to do all of the heavy lifting. It also serves as a really excellent conversation starter! Sometimes a conversation can lull once you get past the whole great sure let’s do a thread sometime part. I also like to let the person I’m messaging know that I’m not particularly committed to any of these ideas if they’re not feeling them, and that I’m very much open to their own ideas if they have any. That way I don’t feel like I’m steamrolling anyone and hopefully this person feels comfortable engaging in some brainstorming. 

I know that contacting new roleplayers can very very difficult for some writers. There is definitely a level of vulnerability in putting yourself out there, but what you have to remember is this: roleplaying is ultimately a social hobby. By its very nature, it necessitates human interaction, and if you aren’t willing to reach out, this may be why you are experiencing a lull in activity. If we are all too afraid to reach out to one another, then we will never get to have any of those great interactions that make roleplay so much fun. I know the fear of rejection can make this hard, but just remember that the worst another roleplayer can say is no thank you, and that this decision is almost certainly not based on you as a person but maybe factors like their style of writing, or your fandom, or what kind of threads they like to write. It might even be because they’re overwhelmed with the threads they already have, or because they’re looking for something very specific. None of these things have anything to do with you, so even if a roleplayer says thanks but no thanks, it’s really not so terrible. You might be the ripest, juiciest peach on the tree, but there still might be someone who just doesn’t like the taste of peaches, and that’s okay. 

Another thing to consider when you’re contacting new partners is that it might not be the best idea to message every new blog you follow, or at least, not message them all at once. I often follow new blogs in batches and then give it a week or two to see who I really vibe with before messaging, and even then, I only message up to three potential partners at a time. Obviously, you can run your blog however you like, but I find it very overwhelming to generate too many potential plot ideas (quality ones, at least) and it can get confusing to keep up with who to respond to. Just something you may want to keep in mind. 

Inviting interactions. If you’re like me and you don’t like to message a lot of new partners right away, I like to encourage existing partners and new mutuals to engage with me indirectly with my own blog activity. 

The most important way to bring followers to your blog and put yourself out there is to make sure your blog has a promo, and that this promo is posted in the correct tags. Tumblr will only post your content if your blog has been live for 72hrs, so if you just made your account, this will have to wait at least three days. Secondly, tumblr will ONLY post your post in the FIRST FIVE tags that you use, so use them wisely. After the first five tags, any tag you use is for your own blog organization, so I always start with indie-fandom-rp first and then my self promo tag sixth. Remember, if you are finding blogs to follow by searching tags, other roleplayers are doing the same, so it’s important to make sure that you are there for them to find. 

Just as a sidenote to this, your promo does not necessarily have to have fancy graphics, if that’s not your forte. As long as your post makes it clear what your blog is for, your promo can still be effective. If you want to have fancy graphics anyway, there are resource communities out there who offer graphics services free of charge, or you can commission an artist. 

I’ll post a sentence starter meme or two, maybe a writing prompt for muses, some AUs I’d like to try, or a wishlist of specific plots and ideas that really interest me. Even if I don’t have a specific idea, I might post about an aspect of my muse’s development that I’d really like to explore more and see if anyone has any ideas. 

I also like to take this time to write headcanon or meta posts about my muse that might generate a conversation ooc or even inspire someone to approach you with an idea. A lot of the time, seeing your interpretation of your character lets other people get an idea for you and how you write your muse, and if this vibes with them, it could be the start of a beautiful partnership. 

Another helpful tool to invite interactions is filling out a plotting cheat sheet. @bandagedbandit has created a really great template for one that you can use here. Posting a plotting cheat sheet can be a great way to let people new to your blog know what’s up more quickly and easily, and may encourage potential partners to feel more confident in contacting you with their own plot ideas. Personally, I like to link to my plotting cheat sheet in my blog’s sidebar or google doc, that way it’s always handy and easily accessible. 

Lastly, if you feel comfortable doing so, you can always post one or more open starters. These are starters for a thread that are not directed at any partner in particular and are clearly marked as open for interaction with anyone. You can also tag your open starters with the same tags you use for your promo, or even different tags that you weren’t able to use for your promo due to the five tag limit. 

Hopefully you find these suggestions helpful, and are able to use them to boost your blog’s activity and meet some cool people. Feel free to send in an ask with any questions, concerns, or clarifications-- or if you have an idea to add to this list. Thanks for reading!

[damdahdi-studies]

exam season

the last 2 weeks have been exam season. leading up to exams i ran week-long blocks of distracting websites on my mac, so I haven’t been able to get on tumblr.... so finally updating now: (more like ranting.) 

one math exam left, on thursday morning

exams so far have been.... okay. none of them i feel particularly good about, but overall i think i managed to deal with the stress/anxiety better this semester than last, just a little bit 

some nice things that happened before exams: 

100% in Chinese speaking mock exam, listening and writing section of written mock exam. i didn’t really realise it until i looked back on my old posts and read how i felt after first set of exams just now, but i have come ... maybe not a long way, but some kind of way :] at the time i was very insecure about just myself and barely believed i could improve on my own; yet i did to a standard i never could’ve dreamed even start of this year. 

somehow obtained 90% in an oral presentation i made about The Crucible by Arthur Miller. i still don’t know how I did it, but I’m glad i improved from the 60s i got last semester in presentations. public speaking still felt like hell though 

top female scorer in my state for some maths competition. also have no idea how i did this, i thought i would get distinction at best. 

changed piano teachers (previous teacher recommended the new one) 

dress for year 12 ball next year arrived. it’s a soft grey pretty thing 

my birthday was during exam season :/ 

also first set of my own prayer beads arrived. have been using them daily since 

reflecting on each subject: (so I can read back on this after i get my marks back and be like haha....  you fool.) 

Literature: better than last time is all i can say... it was okay (still felt like hell during the exam because it’s Literature) managed time during exam slightly better, I didn’t panic as much, but that’s about it lmao i’m crossing my fingers for a low 70s and double crossing for an A. i wasn’t able to or simply didn’t contribute much effort/time to literature this semester, so a B wouldn’t really be a fuck-i-tried-so-hard-why-did-i-get-this-grade kind of punch in the gut, but it would be really nice to not break an all A streak... but I highly suspect I will get a B

Methods (maths): exam was harder than i expected. hoping for a 90s though, a mark that wont bring my average down. i think i was best prepared for methods compared to other subjects, emphasis on COMPARED to other subjects. -_- 

Physics: ahh physics. a whole debacle happened during the exam, please see below. other than that the exam was... kind of expected difficulty? which is difficult, but it wasn’t terrible-terrible. i’m hoping for an 80s. i really can’t hope for much, i was probably delirious half the time. i did manage to ‘finish’ (attempt every question) though i wish i got more time... i couldn’t double check many questions and there was this one question i wanted to spend more time on but oh well... 

summary: i threw up once before the exam, twice during.  

ate a blueberry bagel with cream cheese, with some salmon on top for breakfast. looking back, it was probably the salmon. 

didn’t feel good after. got to school feeling pretty sick in the stomach and a pretty bad headache.... which escalated to one of the worst headaches ive had in the last 3 years in 20 minutes 

at this point i could tell something was wrong and that i was about to throw up 

went to the toilet, tried to throw up whatever was causing pain to my body, but couldn’t. only ended up scaring away some poor kid in the next cubicle 

FIRST TIME: left toilet. sit still for 10 minutes outside, feeling progressively worse. go back to the toilet, then throw up a lot. gargle, wash face, go back to find everyone filing into the exam room. 

feeling slightly better at this point since ive thrown up (i thought i had emptied most of my stomach by then. spoiler alert: no) and decide internally to just do the exam. (if i don’t, then i would have to fill out some form, probably do the exam way later. too annoying) 

SECOND TIME: so i sit the exam. 5-6 minutes into reading time, i feel another wave of throwing up coming. i raise my hand, i’m at the very back of the hall, so examiner takes a bit to notice. my brainwashed ass brain thinks i can’t stand up and leave without the examiners spoken permission, so i persist in sitting in my seat for around 10 seconds until she’s there, i’m already throwing up in my mouth at this point. finally something snaps and i make a break for the toilet, but it’s too late and i throw up all over the floor. in the exam hall. Fuck. i immediately apologise on the spot. 

examiner leads me to toilet. i throw up some more. gargle, wash face. she asks me to step outside for a couple of minutes for fresh air and i do. 5 minutes later she comes back and asks me if i want to continue the exam. i say yes. we go back in, the vomit is gone from the floor. she moves my seat closer to the exit, and tells me i can bolt out whenever i need to throw up. i sit the exam. 

some time after this, the other examiner leaves a vomit bag next to me just in case

THIRD TIME: an hour in? i feel another wave coming. i grab the vomit bag, make a dash for the toilets but the stupid old door won’t open properly. the examiner helps me open the door and i throw up in the toilets, in the vomit bag this time. it’s not as much as the previous two times. tie up the bag, throw it in the bin, gargle, wash face. 

instinctively i feel that this is the last time i’ll throw up, that i’ve truly emptied everything from my stomach this time. headache is way weaker at this point. 

go back in and examiner asks me if i’m really sure i want to continue the exam, whether or not if i want to fill in a form excusing myself from the exam. i say no.

about an hour left in the exam, which i sit in utter peace 

didn’t get any extra time. 

apologised to some people around me after the exam while filing out of the hall... i suffered but they did too. 

went home and drank some stomach soothing tea. slept

ate porridge for the next 2 days. 

Chemistry: it was.... okay. i did finish and attempt every question. there were a couple of questions in multiple choice i was iffy about and a question in short answer i was like um... what? to, but other than that it was.... eh. i didn’t study much for it, so whatever mark i get i deserve. if i do defend myself it was 3 days after the shit show that was the physics exam, and i felt sick for at least a day after.... but yeah. should’ve tried more. 

during reading time, the examiner who saved my life put the vomit bag on my desk in the physics exam came and asked me if i was feeling better 

i said i’m feeling good thanks : ) 

like an hour later? i feel sickness coming. not stomach this time, just general sickness. somehow i get a fever and subsequently, the FLU in the middle of the chem exam- 

i highly suspect i got it from the examiner 

come back home to find out that i really do have a fever

this was yesterday. yes i’m sick now. like, more sick. 

Chinese: this was today. i’m still kind of too traumatised to reflect on it properly. Chinese is the only subject that ive studied the yr 12 course for this year, so this exam really counts. like 35% of my final grade counts kind of counts. and i did pretty bad. like pretty bad. it was definitely more difficult than the mock exams, and the recordings in listening section were quicker than previous years. the writing section was... traumatising while writing i kind of had a wave of anxiety/panic hit me? i could feel my heartbeat my face was burning and i started sweating ;-; and even the reading section, which is usually okay, was a bit hard. i’ll get the marks back and my final grade for this subject in December - we’ll see until then. got a slightly overdue birthday present before the exam tho :) 

So yup. that’s my exam season. i’m typing this instead of studying for my maths exam day after tomorrow but hey, i’m sick and need rest, right? 

overall, these exams i managed to keep control of my stress a bit better, i wasn’t so overwhelmed like last time. last semester i could barely live, literally. this time i made the habit of living at the library which i found really helpful and comparatively productive, i’ll definitely be using that strategy more often. i’m just glad i managed to study SOMETHING or prepare for exams explicitly this time, because i was simply too overwhelmed to do that last time. i improved. maybe not by much, maybe it doesn’t seem like much, but it’s better than none... 

i’m not saying i don’t have regrets or shortcomings in these exams. i definitely do. DeFinITEly. but doesn’t mean i didn’t improve. i did improve. just, maybe not as much as i wanted. 

i really learned to the bone this time that learning during the semester is so, so important. i think that’s just a wisdom i’ll have to carry through the rest of my academic career. 

wish me luck for my maths exam on Thursday 

my friends and ive already planned an outing for after the exams :) 

also getting overdue birthday presents next monday! :D 

[everlasting-gospel]

New Post has been published on Present Truth

New Post has been published on https://presenttruth.info/fear-not-coronavirus-precautions/

Fear Not! Coronavirus Precautions!

“Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love” (2 John 3).

I pray that you are doing well despite the perilous times in which we are living.

I am a first responder with our volunteer fire department. I just wanted to share a few things with you about the caronavirus that were shared with our department.

First of all, Thus saith the Lord, “Fear not!” This phrase is found 63 times in the Bible.

“Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).

“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matthew 6:25-34).

“And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation” (Psalms 91:1-16).

“No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD” (Isaiah 54:17).

“But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee” (Isaiah 43:1, 2).

“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness” (Isaiah 41:10).

For a study on trusting the Lord for everything, please read the following article.

The Faith of the Son of God – Jun-Jul 2018

Paul exclaimed, “I live by the faith of the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20). Wait a minute, I know we are to “…walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7), but Paul talks about “the faith of” God’s Son, not his own faith. …Read More

Some Precautions

1) Wash your hands often. Hands are the number one carrier of germs and viruses.

2) Avoid touching your mouth, nose, and eyes.

3) Drink lots of water. The caronavirus first attaches in your throat, and cannot survive well in warm temperatures. It can be washed down to the stomach by warm water where it will be killed by your stomach acid. If you have a sore throat gargle with warm salt water, and drink lots of water.

4) Monitor yourself and others with a thermometer, preferably one that does not need to touch the patient.

5) Stay at least six feet away from anyone who has symptoms of caronavirus without protection. Protection will include gloves, mask, eye protection, and a gown. Even with these precautions, limit all contact, and carefully remove and dispose of the protection, then wash your clothes, shower, and change into clean clothes. Spray the bottom of your shoes with a disinfectant like Lysol, before entering your vehicle or house after you have been exposed to coronavirus.

According to the CDC Website here are some things you should watch for.

Watch for symptoms Reported illnesses have ranged from mild symptoms to severe illness and death for confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases. The following symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure.*

Fever

Cough

Shortness of breath

*This is based on what has been seen previously as the incubation period of MERS-CoV viruses.

If you develop emergency warning signs for COVID-19 get medical attention immediately. Emergency warning signs include*:

Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath

Persistent pain or pressure in the chest

New confusion or inability to arouse

Bluish lips or face

*This list is not all inclusive. Please consult your medical provider for any other symptoms that are severe or concerning.

If you suspect someone to be a carrier of the caronavirus, they will probably not be transported to the hospital unless they have emergency warning signs.

Currently, President Trump is requesting that you avoid gatherings of more than ten people, and avoid unnecessary travel.

I am not giving you everything you need to know about this, so check your trusted news sources for more information.

The best preparation you can make is to draw near to God. “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded” (James 4:8).

There are a lot of promises of protection in the Bible for us, claim them and believe them for you and your family. If there is known sin in your life, ask God to remove it, then ask Him to reveal more light. Watch and pray is the instruction Jesus gave His disciples before their faith was severely tried.

As students of the Bible we should not be surprised by things like this. There are a lot of potential events behind the scenes that might explain why this is going on right now. The bottom line is, Satan is behind it all.

“…Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time” (Revelation 12:12).

The final conflict will be over worship. Read Revelation 13. God’s Ten Commandments are split into two sections, 1-4 deal with worship to God, 5-10 deal with how we treat people. The primary commandments that will be involved in this final conflict revolve around commandments 1 and 4.

On February 18, 1890 there was a Breckenridge Sunday Bill presented to the House of Representatives in the United States. Here is a portion of what this bill entailed.

“Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That it shall be unlawful for any person or corporation, or employee of any person or corporation in the District of Columbia, to perform any secular labor or business, or to cause the same to be performed by any person in their employment on Sunday, except works of necessity or mercy; nor shall it be lawful for any person or corporation to receive pay for labor or services performed or rendered in violation of this act…”

JO Corliss testified before the house in opposition to this bill saying,

“…In this connection let me say, gentlemen, that the District of Columbia has just the same kind of a Sunday law as that of Ohio. This law of the District of Columbia was in force when this book was issued which I hold in my hand, which was April 1, 1868; and I am told that this law (which I will read) was re-enacted in 1874. I now quote from the law. Section 1 provides that- ‘If any person shall DENY THE TRINITY, he shall, for the first offense, be bored through the tongue, and fined twenty pounds; … and for the second offense, the offender being thereof convict as aforesaid, shall be stigmatized by burning on the forehead with the letter B, and fined forty pounds; and for the third offense, the offender being thereof convict as aforesaid, shall suffer death, without the benefit of the clergy.’ Section 10 of the same law has this:- ‘No person whatever shall do any bodily labor on the Lord’s day, commonly called Sunday …’ Now, gentlemen, that law has never been repealed.” (Arguments on the Breckinridge Sunday Bill, by AT Jones, pages 3,13).

Friends, we are living in perilous times. The Lord is coming soon. The final crisis will be over worship, and the two primary aspects that will be brought to law will cause people to violate God’s Ten Commandment Laws on the true God we worship, and the day on which we worship. How those will be brought to play in forbidding people to buy or sell unless they violate these Laws is yet to be seen. But pay attention, friends, it is coming. Make sure you know who you worship, and worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, and worship Him in part by resting “the Sabbath day according to the Commandment” (Luke 23:56).

Please read these booklets: God’s Love on Trial, National ID and the Mark of the Beast, and The Mark of the Beast.

Farewell my Brothers and Sisters. God bless you and keep you.

“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen” (Ephesians 3:14-21).

In Christian Love, Your Brother in Christ, Lynnford Beachy