#I was unemployed at the time and it was a great videogame

[cosmic-robot-menace]

OBLIGATORY ANNOUCEMENT TITLE HERE

Heya! So I've decided to bite the bullet and accept a hellofresh sponso for my streams (I know it ain't great, but I'm kind of in a tough situation money wise so forgive me in advance 💀). The first stream will be on Saturday after 9 PM CENTRAL EUROPE TIME.

If you don't follow me and are seeing this post for the first time: hi I'm Astra, I'm a nonbinary artist and I play videogames. I am currently unemployed (and autism makes finding a job hellish for me) and trying my best to earn an income through commissions or streaming!

I'd really apperciate if you could spread the post around! The more people can participate, the better! I'm pretty excited and also scared, but hopefully this will work out!

[dont-scare-me-im-hugged]

Dhmis gaming Headcanons Headcanons!!!:

-Yellow likes to play Roblox on the computer :D

-Duck prefers to play the Sims, but he isn't very good at it, he kills his families for the funsies and mostly sees it as a death simulator. He may also play war games but won't allow Yellow to watch as he thinks they're too much for his weak mind.

-Red is a Minecraft epic gamer, he can wipe out the sickest plays in the world, the closest water buckets imaginable and the best in pvp... But he is constantly keeping a straight face so it's kinda hard to really tell if he's doing it because he is a pro or just plain lucky.

-Roy plays minesweeper but always looses on the last (very obvious) mine, he prefers to play solitaire which he does surprisingly good.

-Sketchbook (or Paige, however you call her) is a Splatoon fan, she'll go feral if she sees green, but any other color she thinks is really creative and beautiful.

-Tony isn't a fan of videogames or technology in general (he thinks its a waste of precious time) but Yellow got him to play and enjoy simple games like Purble Place or Majong.

-Shringold (idk how to type it lmao) is a great enjoyer of The Ms.Kitty lovematching game, but he's a little... Ya know, so he would be very selective with who he plays.

-Collin is the computer, he ain't playing most of the time 😭😭😭 he enjoys playing Roblox with Yellow but gets really competitive.

-Gilbert loves airplane simulators, he can see the whole world in those.

-The steak and Spinach can love cooking mama games!!! The peta one is their favourite :3.

-The lamp (I think the fandom calls him Larry) just enjoys chill games like Animal crossing or Stardew Valley.

-Ms.briefcase doesn't have the time to play, he is always working.

-Brandon plays League of legends why do you think he's unemployed.

-Coffin doesn't even know what a computer is.

-The twins play the Sims too!!! But they always make the perfect family, a mom, a dad, and the beautiful sons and daughters... If anything ruins it they will go feral and destroy everything only to start again.

-Warren is honestly more of a Valorant gamer, maybe even a World of Warcraft... Maybe genshin?

-Mr.choochoo doesn't even know what electricity is, he's still living in the steam age.

-Electracy is a huge gamer of all kind of games!!! But she really enjoys Pokémon, specially Pokémon Yellow.

[thesmutgoddess]

Tonight, for the first time in two weeks, my boyfriend came crawling out of his manhole feeling guilty over the fact that he's been ignoring me in favor of whatever his latest videogame obsession is. It was a great relief, not because I had noticed that he hadn't been around but because it was an opportune moment to expose the fact that while he was spending time with his PC I've just been... spending.

Imagine me, hunched over my jewelry box full of Juicy Couture charms like Gollum, while he's standing there giving a genuine heartfelt apology for not giving me enough attention lately. I've never read a Sophie Kinsella chicklit but I can't imagine she could write a better deus ex machina for her shopaholic heroine. He couldn't even be mad over the fact that I'm unemployed, manic, frivoling away the last of my spending money and abusing my newly formed Fair credit score on the female equivalent to grown men who collect trading cards. I wanted to turn to the Heavens and Thank God but I just nodded and said, "It's ok, babe. I understand."

[hope-of-virgo]

I'm currently bedridden as a result of hormonal shit as it intersects with my autism (truly a new one; I was not expecting that starting HRT/getting my period would also make the symptoms of my autism more severe), so to pass the time I'm making an Accountability Post about my new year resolutions.

A lot of resolutions fall on their faces due to nebulous goals or ill-defined steps to completion; "go to the gym more" is a great one, but if you're not defining what "more" is, you're already off to a bad start. So the method I came up with was integrating a "traffic light report" into it. "Came up with" is a strong phrase; I lifted it wholesale from a tool we use at work. The theory is that if you separate a complex change into "stop doing, keep doing, start doing", you can more easily take steps towards completing each one.

Goals should also be fluid; I'm going to be reviewing the list every 3 months to ensure that any value drift is incorporated into the plan and that the ambitions are consistent with the amount of time I have available to achieve them. One of the things I miss about being in my 20s is that I seemed to have a lot more time on my hands, though that could very easily be mistaken for "remember how much time you had to spend on your goals when you were unemployed?".

Stop doing: Doomscrolling on my phone. This is a pretty easy one to knock off. I picked up this bad habit from my ex, and it only got worse in lockdowns because it was the only way I could keep up with people and get the news. Problem is, in the same way as videogames, it's mental health junk food for me. Feels great when I'm doing it and feels fucking awful when I stop. If I've been playing a game for several hours, I usually have a mild panic attack when I stop. Phone usage is a bit harder though, because I don't have an internet connection at my house, and because we use phones for so fucking much these days. I've currently got about 75 tabs open, most of them recipes, and I dread to look at the amount of time I actually spend on the nightmare rectangle. "Giving up Twitter" was actually easier than I thought it would be, as it's no longer particularly safe for trans people now that Phony Stark has taken over. I've noticed that my phone is a stim-tool more than it is anything particularly gratifying, so guess who's about to invest in a bunch more sensory tools? I've also noticed that knitting fills a lot of my fidget needs, and having an in-the-round project on the go in my cavern of a handbag lets me fill small gaps in time with something to do with my hands without having to commit to a full row of something worked flat. Masking my autism Truth be told, this whole "your hormones affect your autism" thing hasn't been all bad. It's made me realise how much of my life I spent masking, and having good autistic role models has made all the difference on this front. Autism acceptance has come a long way, even in the last 5 years. Transitioning socially was this big break-point of "you're about to do a thing and you're going to stop blending into the background as a result of that". I got through it by taking the dual view of "if you learn I'm trans and you suddenly don't like me, you never liked me", and "I'm trading my comfort for safety and not even getting safety. If I'm going to be in danger, I may as well be comfortable". Fortunately I live in a part of the country that isn't complete dogshit for trans acceptance. But back to the autism for a sec; wearing sunglasses and headphones when I need them makes all the difference, even when people go "what the fuck" when I do so in the supermarket. I bought a set of communication cards last year, and just having them at my disposal has been a relief because I have other options to communicate. Fiancee and I are going to be taking Auslan classes (I already use Auslan a bit) to reduce the verbal burden on me in public, both in terms of communication problems during sensory flooding and also voice dysphoria. More to the point, I have the right to exist in the world and take up space, and I'm no longer going to apologise for not being born with a neurotypical brain. They can fucking deal with it.

Making excuses not to go to the pole studio My pole studio is owned by someone I went to school with, and I had severe interpersonal problems with her sister in addition to having a punch-on with her brother at one point. I consider it water under the bridge, but they sure as fuck don't. Fact of the matter is, most of my pole problems are caused by interpersonal issues. I butted heads with another member of the studio several years ago, which can basically be boiled down to creative differences in not-for-profit accounting practices as well as not wanting to get sued for fraud by doing it her way. There's also an element of "there are huge numbers of mirrors there, and I have an eating disorder", but that's getting better with time. But because of the risk of running into some people I'm not super fond of, I've opted to steer clear as much as possible. That's gotta change, I don't do nearly as much apparatus work as I should. Likewise, given that I'm now running on estrogen, I don't have to be afraid of hitting the weights room anymore. Last year when I took my leave from work, I basically trained like a professional athlete for the entire month, and nearly died when I came back to the office and everyone was complimenting me about how broad my shoulders had gotten. Like, thanks folks, but I don't feel good about this at all. Gym will let me get the "fit girl" aesthetic that I'm going for, and I don't have to be afraid of growing a man's body anymore.

Keep doing: Cooking my own meals I'm pretty proud of the progress I've made on this front; for many years, I wasn't allowed to use the kitchen (whoo domestic violence!), and sort of forgot how to cook. I also got pretty bad anxiety about even being in the kitchen. I enjoy making my own preserves and making a bunch of food from scratch, including sourdough, cakes, cookies, etc. It's also better for me than whatever the fuck I was doing before, but that's also on eating disorder stuff. One thing I do have to work on though, is making a dessert once a week. I avoid sweet foods like the plague, and consigning an entire group of food to the "do not cook" pile because of internalised body image problems isn't particularly healthy. Also, paying a dietician who says "it's ok to have something sweet a few times a week" and then not following that advice seems a bit like I'm pouring good money after bad; don't ask for advice you're not going to listen to.

Gender affirmation Sure, having to replace an entire wardrobe of clothes is fucking expensive, but my "boy clothes" no longer fit me properly, and make me feel like shit when I wear them. My op-shopping buddy will be out of rehab in a couple of weeks, so at least I won't be running the gauntlet on my own. I'd like to learn how to do makeup a bit better as well, but that starts by actually geting out the tools and do some.

Watching new shows and listening to new music Fiancee and I have vastly different views on what constitutes good media, and it's also a reason why we'll have to have slightly different living spaces when we live together. While I wouldn't say her tastes in what's on the TV are bad, as such, I only have a limited amount of patience for Twitch and Youtube. At the same time, she doesn't like the more grounded and drama-heavy stuff that I watch. Lately when it comes to TV shows and movies, I've been watching it once and that's it (which is fine, even though it's a bit atypical for an autistic person), but I've been listening to the same 1600 songs on a loop for the past couple of years and it's getting a touch old. On a different note, I need to watch shows more readily when they're released, rather than waiting 6 months "just in case they're not renewed".

Start doing: Eating more vegetables Fresh fruit and veg has gotten really expensive over the last few months, and that's unlikely to change anytime soon. Bestie Jade and I have a joint vegetable garden at hers, but we're not likely to see fully self-sufficient output from that garden just due to the confined space. Even so, there's a "seconds" fruit shop here in town, and they actually have a pretty good range. It also helps that I'm vegetarian and don't have to cut meat to make room for it, but historically my diet has been a bit too heavy on pulses and prepackaged protein with not enough vegetables in the mix, and I definitely feel better when I have more fresh fruit and vegetables in the mix. (Breaking news: local demigirl discovers benefits of a healthy diet)

Actively reducing household waste This one's been shitting me off for years. I have a deep-seated dislike for single-use packaging, which is a sentiment a lot of people seem to be joining me in. Probably the best buy I had last year was a roll of beeswax wrap; I have no idea how much plastic wrap I saved from landfill because of it, but it would have been significant. Health food shops will usually let you bring your own containers. Fiancee and I have started transitioning towards reusable consumables services that basically give you a permanent container for your, say, dishwashing liquid, and then you send back the plastic bag that the liquid came in and they refill it. The return postage is also included in the subscription cost. Granted, this adds to the CO2 footprint a bit, but if there was already going to be fuel used to take the rubbish to the tip, I consider this a win. It'll also be much less of a concern the more that logistics transitions to renewable energy sources. Besides, going to the health food shop gives you access to a whole bunch of stuff that just straight up isn't at the supermarket. This isn't a "wellness culture" thing, the benefits of wholefoods and low-processing are nebulous and subjective at best, but the fact of the matter remains that it's the only place I could find soybeans or linseeds.

More longform journaling Most of what I did on Twitter was use it as a mindfulness tool, and while a character limit did make me get to the fucking point, it also reduced my ability to write coherently on a single topic.

Diversifying my income sources Outside of my civvie job, I run a business. It's been pretty dead for a while industry-wide, but just having my job not be a singular point of failure for income was a good thing. My professional interests have changed, which is fine, but it does need a fucking good overhaul and a new business plan.

Interior decorating My house looks like a hellscape at the moment, but due to changes in rental laws, I'll actually be able to do shit like "hanging paintings". I'm installing a whiteboard to help with my executive dysfunction, and I've been meaning to organise and decorate my kitchen. I moved house on average every year all through my 20s, and I never thought to make my space more pleasant.

[thewhiteroseofvermilion]

Moving Forward

Hello everyone. It’s been a long time since I’ve last spoken to you all, and an even longer time since I’ve last updated this story. Over the months and years, my absence has saddened, frustrated, and even angered many of you. Despite my own valid feelings of how—to put it bluntly—I don’t owe any of you anything as this is something I do for free and in my own free time, I still recognize how it must feel for you all to see something you enjoy so much slowly lose momentum and eventually grind to a halt. Furthermore, my habit of making enthusiastic yet empty statements in between didn’t help either. 

As such, a proper and honest explanation is due, as anything less would be unkind. This will be lengthy, but please bear with me. 

For the past four years, it’s been increasingly difficult to find the time, energy, and motivation for me to properly sit down and write. Seemingly gone are the early days of this story’s life when I was able to publish a new chapter every month or so, or even every two weeks when I was at the top of my game in terms of activeness. Even though I had an immense workload due to being a double major in college, leading me to adopt the best work ethic I’ve ever had, I still led a sheltered lifestyle where I didn’t have to worry about the many looming, inevitable adult responsibilities that were ahead of me.

Those tranquil years of course came to an end when I graduated, and I soon felt immense pressure to shift my attention to finding work, living independently, and working on things that would further my career. While I received support as an aspiring writer from the majority of my family, those being my mother and sister, the both of them commented more frequently as time passed by that my “fanfiction” wasn’t something that I should be spending so much time on anymore. After all, it’s not like I could sell the work as my own, and the fact that despite fanfiction absolutely being a valid artform, it wasn’t something that the world of professional employers cared about. 

Nonetheless, when I did eventually find work as a film freelancer, I still tried to persevere and write on the side. My goal back then was to work in film in order to sustain my pursuit in writing. Film was something I went to school for, greatly enjoyed, and even saw a possible future career for myself in, but it was the writing aspect of it that I was truly after, that being primarily screenwriting. 

After two years of living at home, I felt the need to try and live independently as I outgrew my tiny room and my mom started dating a man that I didn’t particularly like. I knew it wasn’t financially smart of me to do so when my mom allowed me to live with her rent-free. But at the time I thought that it would help me to become more mature and productive, as I would have to force myself to work in order to put a roof over my head and food on the table—as opposed to living a sheltered life at home where everything was taken care of for me. Essentially, I was longing for the lifestyle I had in college, thinking that once I returned to it, I would be able to reacquire that once incredible work ethic I had. 

So, I became roommates with a friend from college and together we rented a townhouse together. Rent wasn’t terribly expensive, but it wasn’t cheap either. Regardless, I was able to make ends meet. My greatest challenge however, was to live up to my family’s spoken and unspoken expectations. On one hand, my mother was sweet and understanding, naturally giving me her full support. My father, on the other, always thought that it’d be better for me to pursue something safer and more lucrative, and to not risk being a starving artist. But the one I had to prove myself the most to was my older sister, who was wildly more successful than I was—financially and professionally. My pay compared to hers was like a drop in a bucket, and I felt both indirect and direct pressure from her to be more “professional” like her. Therefore, I threw myself into my work, which is when things slowly began to go downhill. 

As a film freelancer, my work hours usually averaged between 10-12 hours a day, and with my work taking me all over my home state of Maryland and even into neighboring Washington DC and Virginia, my commute time to and from work ranged anywhere from an additional 1-3 hours. It became incredibly common for me to wake up for work anywhere between 3-6 AM and not get home until 8-10 PM. 

Unbeknownst to me at the time, I slowly slipped into a routine where when I did have the “time” to write, I had zero energy or motivation as my work was so taxing. I reached the point where I had to drink two energy drinks with 300mg of caffeine to get myself to and from work. I saw less and less of my roommate and friends. I spent an alarming amount of money and gained weight from ordering take-out so often because I hadn’t the energy to cook for myself when I got home late from work. There would even be days when I fell into what felt like comas, sleeping up to two days straight at one point. My physical, mental, and emotional health was in serious decline. And yet I didn’t see it that way, as I had become obsessed with trying to prove to my family, my sister in particular, that I wasn’t a failure and that my pursuit of writing wasn’t a hopeless one.

During the first month of COVID-19′s outbreak last year, I finally had a much-needed vacation. This was undoubtedly the best time for me to have returned to writing—but I didn’t. At this point, so much time had passed since my last proper writing session that the few times I did try to write, I found myself completely unable to write anything. I was so out of practice and so out of touch with what I had written. This honestly frightened me, and I soon began to doubt if I could ever be able continue the story with the same quality that so many readers fell in love with. Regrettably, I fled from this revelation long enough for a full month to pass by, and I soon found myself busy with yet another distraction: unemployment. 

I was out of work for about 4.5 months, from the middle of March to the beginning of August. During this time, I had to rely on state unemployment, which earned me great scorn from my older sister. Our relationship had always been uneven since we were kids, but it was becoming increasingly toxic as of late since our college years. I felt so ashamed to tell her how much money I made in a year from my job as a film freelancer, and how I barely managed to move to a better position after four years of work. Riddled with guilt and disappointment in myself, when work became readily available again in August, I frantically threw myself back in harder than ever before. In the past where I had turned down the occasional job to give myself some time to relax or in order to make it to a social outing with friends, I now accepted every job thrown my way, only declining those that would make me double-book myself. I earned a lot of money during those months as a result, and I was so happy to finally distance myself from the stigma of being “unemployed.” However, I once again failed to see that I was yet again sliding back into the lifestyle that had been slowly poisoning me for the past two years. 

After essentially working non-stop from August to March, my body, mind, and soul soon returned right back to the brink of collapse. It wasn’t until then at my lowest point when I finally realized how I initially went from working to sustain myself in order to write, to not writing at all and only working to sustain myself to work even more. It was truly scary to see myself fall victim to a brutal cycle of unfulfilling work that could have trapped me for years to come if I hadn’t broken free first. That’s when I realized that my lifestyle was personally unsustainable, and that something had to change. 

Henceforth, I’ve made the difficult decisions to both transition out of film freelancing and to soon return home to live with my father. At the end of April, the homeowner of the townhouse my roommate and I had been living in for close to three years gave us our 30-days-notice to vacate, as they no longer wished to rent but to sell the property. As my roommate had been planning on finding a place of his own with his girlfriend for quite some time, we split amicably at the end of last month in May and I’ve since moved into a temporary apartment with a friend who has traveled back to Maryland for seasonal work. 

Regarding the change in my career, I’ve been looking into applying for writing positions for something that I’ve grown to enjoy over the past few years, which is to write reviews for media such as film, anime, and videogames. This of course is not what I truly want to do in life, but I think that because it actually involves writing, it would be both good practice in terms of practicing my writing and experience in terms of resume-building. Furthermore, a stable “9-5″ job as such would be good for me, I think, as it would introduce some desperately needed structure back into my life. Being a freelancer was definitely fun as I had the power to choose my own schedule, but it unfortunately fostered a lot of laziness and procrastination when I wasn’t completely burnt out. 

I’ve shared with you all this information, a great deal of it being very personal, in the hopes that it helps you better understand who I am as a person and what I’ve been going through these past four years. 

I understand that my word may be difficult to trust due to my history, but I sincerely wish to let you all know from the bottom of my heart that I do plan on continuing writing The White Rose of Vermilion until it’s completed. My fears and insecurities may have alienated me from that promise, but not once did I ever entertain the idea of fully dropping the story. And I promise you, I never will. It most likely will not further my career in any way, bring any revenue in, and will continue to consume a great deal of my precious free time—yet I still choose to pursue continuing it because I can’t see a future where I don’t finish it.

It is after all my most cherished project; the reason that I was able to truly find my calling as an aspiring writer, its success also ultimately being the proof to my mother that I had some skill as a budding writer, who then gave me her full blessings to pursue it as a career. But most important of all is that it’s the reason why I was able to experience first-hand one of the most important and beautiful discoveries in my entire life. That being the incredible phenomenon of how art is like a beacon—its bright light is powerful enough to reach out and inspire others to create art of their own. From Monty Oum to Nancy Phetchareune to myself, I was blessed enough to see readers create wonderful fanart to show me or tell me in a review that reading my story had inspired them to create something of their own.

I am officially leaving behind my prolonged hiatus and returning to working on The White Rose of Vermilion. While I am extremely hesitant to even estimate when the next chapter will be published, please know that I am genuinely trying to leave behind my habits of old and returning to a more consistent schedule. 

The White Rose of Vermilion will return in:

Arc II, Chapter Twenty-Seven: Stranger in the Night

[sageybear]

Sooo I made my own sims challenge 😳 I'm not sure if it's been done before or not but I wanted to try my best,

Its my first challenge so please be nice!

Also, sorry if some of these aren't that accurate to the aesthetic.. I tried-

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Basic rules:

-no cheating, especially for money, unless the rules give you permission.

-feel free to edit some things to fit around the packs you have! For example if you wanna live in an apartment, or if you want to have pets! Pets are allowed in any generation, just be wary of how many people will be in your household!

-feel free to start with no money/restart your money, house etc every generation! You don't have to, but if you want to you can :)

-enjoy! Feedback is super appreciated!

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Aesthetics Challenge

Gen 1 - Cottagecore

Your parents were humble, sweet people with no mean bones in their body. They taught you to be kind and to follow your dreams, no matter what. As a young adult, you adventure into the world and see what's out there for you.

Traits: loves the outdoors, creative, clumsy.

Aspiration: Painter Extraordinaire.

Career: Freelance Painter/selling paintings.

Rules:

-live in a small, cottage-like house (tiny living: live in one of the tiers).

-max painting skill.

-make 10 sculptures via woodworking bench.

-complete aspiration.

-marry a creative/ambitious sim.

-have at least 2 kids.

Gen 2 - Naturecore

Taking after your parents, you enjoy the peaceful life surrounded by nature. They taught you that nature was a valuable thing, never to be taken for granted.

Traits: Cheerful, Good, Bookworm.

Aspiration: Freelance Botanist.

Career: Selling plants, flowers, etc.

Rules:

-continue living in a small home.

-have a garden, you like to grow your own food.

-complete aspiration.

-max gardening and fitness skills.

-[seasons: sell flower bouquets and honey].

-have a reading nook in your garden.

-have a small circle of friends.

-have a secret relationship with one of your friends, have a child together and then "ask to just be friends".

-own a pool.

-Adopt a child/children.

-3 kids max.

-complete the plants/flowers collection.

-never marry.

Gen 3 - Alternative

As a child you always craved more excitement, the easygoing, nature filled life was never for you. You rebelled a lot as a child, and was troublesome, as well as a bit of a player.

Traits: Kleptomaniac, Romantic, Non Committal.

Aspiration: Serial Romantic.

Career: Entertainer, Musician Branch.

Rules:

-live in your parent's basement.

-have a bad relationship with your grandparents.

-complete aspiration.

-reach level 5 career.

-no long term relationships until adult.

-after completing the aspiration, you meet your polar opposite and fall in love.

-elope and have 3 kids with them (may cheat for triplets if you want to).

-max career.

Gen 4 - Clowncore

When you heard your parent's story, you made fun of them a lot. You soon found you had a good sense of humour, and would annoy people with pranks to the point of hatred towards you. All apart from one person, of course.

Traits: Goofball, Hot-Headed, Erratic.

Aspiration: Public Enemy.

Career: Entertainer, Comedian Branch.

Rules:

-Own the sad clown painting.

-Master the comedy and charisma skills.

-Optional: collect aliens.

-Have lots of friends as a child, but slowly lose touch with all but one.

-Max career and complete aspiration.

-Date someone, but have a bad friendship meter with them. Leave them at the alter.

-After reaching the top of your career, realise your love for your friend and marry them.

-Have one child.

Gen 5 - Chaoscore

Due to a mediocre relationship with your parents, you became.. A little chaotic. You couldn't decide what you really wanted, and followed in the footsteps of a crazy household.

Traits: Kleptomaniac, Glutton, Lazy.

Aspiration: Master Chef.

Career: Your choice, have 3 different jobs through your life.

Rules:

-After the chaos of your parents' life and living in a crazy house, you follow those footsteps.

-Hook up with as many colleagues as possible, and get pregnant with two of them.

-Have a bad relationship with your children.

-Complete the frog collection, and display them around the house.

-Quit your job as soon as your oldest child is a teen. Let the kids bring the income.

-2 children only.

-Complete aspiration.

-Never marry.

Gen 6 - Dark Academia

After being used by your parent for money, you became a lonely, quiet person. You simply wished for a normal childhood, and so, at first you don't realise, but you'd like to have a family of your own.. Though, you don't know the dynamics of one very well.

Traits: Gloomy, Loner, Childish.

Aspiration: Best-Selling Author.

Career: Writer.

Rules:

-Only befriend the people you meet at the welcome wagon, or your neighbours if you don't move house. (you may find a spouse by going to their house if they don't turn up).

-Live with your sibling(s).

-Have a 50% relationship with your children. You're not good with kids as you never had a great childhood yourself, and spend most of your time alone.

-Have an office attached to your bedroom and lock the door for everyone but yourself.

-Focus on your career for the first half of your life. Only explore love as an adult.

-Marry as an elder.

-Have 3 children.

-Complete aspiration.

-Complete Elements collection.

Gen 7 - Angelcore

Thanks to a bad relationship with your parents, you spent a lot of time at a friends house and saw how a real family functioned. You fell in love with the idea, and wanted to be the best parent around!

Traits: Family-Oriented, Outgoing, Perfectionist.

Aspiration: Big Happy Family [Alternatively, Parenthood: Super Parent].

Career: Stay-At-Home Parent.

Rules:

-Max the cooking, charisma and have your partner max the handiness skills. [also for both, Parenthood: max the parenting skill].

-Marry your highschool sweetheart as soon as you're young adults.

-Have 4 children, the youngest being twins. (You may cheat for this).

-Have a family meal each weekend. [seasons: have a grand meal every weekend].

-Spoil your children.

-Have them age up with the happy toddler trait and graduate high school with As. [Parenthood: age up with one positive trait]

-Complete the postcard collection.

-Spouse must be an astronaut. (Can change to astronaut when they move in, it doesn't have to be their default).

Gen 8 - Gadgetpunk

Although you had an ideal childhood, you always felt yourself competing with your siblings for attention. You soon got bored of that, and your interest moved to videogaming, before your life began to revolve around it. Thanks to being spoiled, you had the best gaming setup around.

Traits: Geek, Foodie, Mean.

Aspiration: Computer Whiz.

Career: Tech Guru, E-Sports Gamer Branch.

Rules:

-Live in your parent's attic (or treehouse/garage/etc).

-Have a 'man cave' - fill it with gaming consoles, devices, and posters.

-Complete the MySim Trophies collection.

-Date your twin's best friend.

-Have as many kids as you want, and have a better relationship with one than the others. (The heir).

-Complete aspiration and max career.

-Elope.

Gen 9 - Light Academia

You had a better relationship with your parents than your siblings, and seeing how passionate your parent was about their career, it made you aspire to be just as successful. You srill make plenty of time for your family though, as youe grandparents were so loving.

Traits: Ambitious, Materialistic, Genius.

Aspiration: Renaissance Sim.

Career: Business/any to complete the aspiration.

Rules:

-Date and eventually marry an unemployed with the Mansion Baron/Fabulously Wealthy aspiration and help them achieve it.

-Complete aspiration.

-Have 5 children, you love family thanks to your grandparents.

-Leave your job as an elder after gaining a good, stable amount of money.

-Take up an instrument as an elder and max the skill/get it as high as possible.

Gen 10 - Your Aesthetic

Rules:

-Play how you like! This is the final generation, and you're free to do as you like!

[jxckspxcer]

bro idk what to do lately. it’s not just the blog, it’s my whole laptop, i just cannot bring myself to sit down at my laptop and focus on one website for an extended period of time. i reblogged that psa to admit to the natural reaction of finding it hard to focus when the worlds in chaos, but there are specifics i have wanted to talk about on here ! i wanted to make a nice update post ! maybe with art ! but my brain won’t cooperate, meds or no meds. so i’ll just make a SLOPPY UPDATE for now. Things.... on my mind.

Current Events: 

I live across the river from Portland & every day its the sound of sirens, firecrackers and revving engines in my neighborhood. I got friends protesting out there and I refresh the news almost every hour. I want to do my part to show support, but it’s also hard to focus on how to do that, with everything else on top of it.

Still livin in an immunocompromised household, now with cases booming from the 300 when it started to the 1500+ we got now just in our COUNTY, I don’t go outside more than once a week at this point and I’m losin inspirational mojo. 

My dads been bedridden for like a month & it’s really, really, really, really, really, really really reallyreallyreallyREALLY upsetting to me, he says it’s fine & he just needs to get his oxygen count up like his doctor said but I’m having a micro panic attack every time I pass his bedroom. 

After two months of FINE weather, it’s officially getting hot & we have no A/C, just a buncha fans pushing around hot air. I wake up in pools of my own sweat every hour, so the sleep isn’t great. 

Due to future events, I’m doing a lot of cleaning up around the house. But there’s also a lot of supplies I’m missing at the same time. And space for storage. And knowledge of HOW to clean and organize on my own. It’s a slow, day by day, waiting for extra resources, drag of a job. 

Still unemployed! But I got that unemployment moneys! So I can finally pay for my own beans. I really, really need to upd8 my Kofi & any old donation posts. 

Future Events: 

My dad got me on call for a puppy. I’m getting a puppy in September, maybe October. It’s probably the best thing that’s ever happened to me (sad), but it hasn’t happened yet, so I’m constantly having heartache from yearning, anticipation and dread, worried I might not get my puppy or some other disappointment. I can’t properly wait for things, I have to distract myself from thinking about it, or my hype will overstimulate and upset me. 

In October, my dads church may have found us a house. Is this religious privilege ? Or is having a genuine community who actually cares about you just this nice ? AH ? But it’s TWO MONTHS OUT. ANOTHER WAIT IN PAIN ? It’s also not permanent. We’ll basically be housesitting for maybe four years. But it’s a fUCKIN HO USE. AHHHHH. I haven’t lived in a house since I was 12. I crave it. 

My dads B-Day is in two weeeeeks (it’s August 14th). 

Alternatives to Roleplaying: 

If you still wanna hang with your buddy Murmur, no doubt I will return one day for my Jack muse still clings strong, but there are other options. 

Play video games with me ! I got--- Minecraft ! Left 4 Dead ! WoW ! UHhHhHhh but I’m bad at videogames so just gotta accept that videogames is just another form of hanging out to me. Never any competition to know more about the game or understand the controls better, cAUSE THE WINNER WILL NEVER BE ME. Suggesting other games that are good for co-operative play would be appreciated. 

Talk to me about your day and your life. It is not boring to me. I find the perspectives of lives other than my own incredibly worthwhile. My hyperfixation is sociopsychology, knowing how you grew up & how you live now & how it all shapes your views, is beautiful to me, and I enjoy offering my perspectives in return. Though you don’t gotta go that deep if you just tell me u got a cat named Corn I’ll love regardless. 

Talk to me about your muse ! Our muses ! Passion projects ! I’m here to support ! And be interactive when I can. 

I was considering starting a discord ebook club for Ascendance of a Bookworm by Miya Kazuki. Each ebook is only $6, and I’d probably pay for a copy for anyone who can’t get it themselves, that’s how much I love the book. But it’s a lot of set-up still, and I’d have to find people interested, but *clenches fist* an idea.

Also under consideration: a discord D&D club, but also like, ic.... I’ve never DM’d in my life but it’s on my bucketlist & is therefore, under consideration. 

Oh hay I have a personal blog @heylinfanclub​ & Jack has an aesthetic blog @basementvillainy​.

If you can ASK, you can HAVE: My Discord, Snap, (close friends) Phone Numby. You gotta ask cause, bro I can’t assume who wants it, I can’t have that responsibility. 

No Denying that I SHALL RETURN, but uhhhhh it’s quiet uptown for now. 

[catfishmorales]

Quarantine Tag Game!!

I was tagged by @lucy-sky thank you! 💕💕 hope you're staying safe.

ARE YOU STAYING HOME FROM WORK/SCHOOL?

I am. College got closed just over a week ago and all of our classes moved online so I've been spending most of my time looking at a laptop doing class work. As for work, unfortunately my job wasn't classed as essential so I am now unemployed and probably will be for the foreseeable future.

 IF YOU’RE STAYING HOME, WHO IS THERE WITH YOU?

My mum who is a care worker and so is still going to work. My brother who is an at risk person is here and my dad who works offshore will be coming home in a couple weeks. The two cats are here two and one is currently drooling all over me and trying to get my attention.

ARE YOU A HOMEBODY?

I like to be at home but all of this is making me realise that I really miss being able to just jump in my car and go wherever I want. Theres only so much you can do stuck at home with all the family and I think I'm starting to reach my limit.

AN EVENT THAT YOU WERE LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT GOT CANCELLED?

I was going to a Supernatural Convention in May and it's been cancelled. The organisation are actually being really shitty and refusing to give me any of my money back so I'm now £700 out of pocket which isn't great considering I'm unemployed now.

WHAT MOVIES HAVE YOU WATCHED RECENTLY? 

Iron Man 2, Triple Frontier, Coco and Inside Edens Gate are the last 4 films I watched I think.

WHAT SHOWS ARE YOU WATCHING? 

Narcos, The Mandalorian, Supernatural and literary so many cooking shows

WHAT MUSIC ARE YOU LISTENING TO? 

Gerry Cinnamon, Louden Swain and The Script. Gerry Cinnamon has been my main one because I just love him.

WHAT ARE YOU READING? 

Nothing at the moment. I have a pile of books at the side of my bed that I really should read but I just haven't picked any of them up yet.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING FOR SELF-CARE?

I've always been incredibly bad at self-care. I care more about other people than I do about myself but at the moment I'm trying my best. Bubble baths full of essential oils are my best friend and I spend way too much time playing videogames or watching Netflix but it all helps to keep me sane in the end so it's worth it I guess!

I'm tagging anyone who wants to do this!

[purplesurveys]

507

Name everyone you know who... is Jewish: I don’t think I know anyone who is. Do people I don’t know personally count? ‘Cause the first Jewish person I thought about was Colt Cabana lmfao. is Christian: 92% of this entire country. is Atheist: Me. JM is also atheist I think. is of another religion: I had a classmate in high school who I heard quietly converted to Buddhism, but I was never close with her so I don’t know if that is true, and if she still is. I haven’t seen her since we graduated. has brown eyes: My sister probably has the brownest eyes out of all of us, but it’s still quite a dark shade.

has blue eyes: I doubt there’s anyone in my circle with this eye color. has green eyes: CM Punk? LMAO has another colored eyes: Almost everyone I know has black eyes. is between the ages of zero and five: My youngest cousin is turning 6 in December, but until then, he is 5. is between the ages of six and ten: My cousin Sam is definitely in that age range, I’m just not so sure what the exact age is. is between the ages of eleven and fifteen: Gabie’s sister is 14, turning 15 this November. is between the ages of sixteen and twenty: My sister (18, turning 19), Gabie’s other sister (16), my old busmates Yanna (18) and Lex (17). is between the ages of twenty-one and thirty: Me and almost all of my friends. A bunch of us were born in 1998, making us 21 years old; a handful are 1-3 years older, like JM (22), Jum and Aya (23). is older than thirty: Other than my parents, my internship supervisor. Not sure how old she is but she’s definitely between 30-40. is a morning person: My mom. It drives me crazy when she wants to get soooo much stuff done within the day since I’m more of a night owl and like it’s just not my schedule lol. is a night person: Me, and just about everyone in UP. is employed: One of the more senior members in my org, Toby, has a job. is unemployed: Everyone else I go to college with. works at the same place as you: I don’t work yet. is single: Laurice. Although we’re counting on her to get a boyfriend before she graduates, so she still has around two years to go. :)) is in a relationship: Jo, who is seeing Aya. is engaged: I have a high school classmate who posted a status about her boyfriend proposing to her many months ago. She hasn’t said anything about it since then so I dunno if they broke it off or nah.

is married: Uh...my parents. is widowed/divorced: The mom of one of my childhood friends is widowed. Her husband died from cancer a few years ago when their daughter and I were in high school, if I remember right. is pregnant: My class adviser from senior year in high school. I know she’s in her 40s, so it was a really pleasant surprise when she announced her pregnancy. has kids: My dog, hahaha. has no kids: My friends in college. has brown hair: Agatha dyed her hair brown a while back.  has blonde hair: Gabie had blonde tips until just recently. She had them cut off last week, so now she’s back to having black hair. has natural red hair: No one I know. has black hair: Aya. has their hair dyed an unnatural color: Everyone I know who has unnaturally-colored hair had it dyed, because Filipinos only have black hair unless they’re half-something. is good at singing: Hannah is a born superstar tbh. I know Ed and Laurice sing too. is good at dancing: Dianne. She’s a high school batchmate who was always the best dancer from our class. She’s a member of the Streetdance Club in my uni now. is good at drawing: Aya! She’s our go-to editorial cartoonist in the org. Angela too, and my sister. is good at painting: Gabie and her youngest sister. My sister’s really good too. She also has a classmate I follow on Twitter, and she’ll post her paintings from time to time, all of which are amazing. is good at acting: Gabie. She was president of the theatre club in high school. is good at writing: Me? Hahahaha gotta flex my own talent too :(( is good at guitar: Gabie’s younger sister. I swear those siblings have the most amazing set of talents. is good at piano: My cousin Luke has been playing the piano for as long as I can remember. His grandma (my great-aunt) also knows how to play and they have a grand piano in their house, so he must have picked it up from her. is good at drums: Denise, a classmate from high school. She was the drummer for my batch’s band. is good in another instrument: JM plays the violin. He’s still a rusty here and there, but can play a tune nonetheless. is athletic/sporty: Hans, Angela’s boyfriend. He plays basketball with his friends all the time. is into fitness and going to the gym: Gabie has a gym membership, but she’s not super obsessed with fitness. smokes cigarettes: Mik, an orgmate of mine. He has always extremely smelled like cigarettes the few times I’ve seen him and I honestly have to step away from him every time :/ smokes weed: I know Danika has had weed brownies. does shrooms: Not anyone I know in real life...I think. does other drugs: Can’t name anyone I know, buddy. drinks often: JM will have moods where he will buy a whole bottle of gin or whatever alcohol he’s feeling at the moment for himself and drink it all in his room, but he’s not an alcoholic hahahaha. doesn't drink: My eldest cousin from my mom’s side. His dad is a horrible alcoholic, so it’s understandable why he avoids it at all costs. doesn't do drugs [not even weed]: Me. is emo/goth/scene/alternative: I uhh...don’t know anyone who identifies as this since probably 2011 at the latest... is preppy/popular: KATE without a shadow of a damn doubt. doesn't fall in either of those stereotypes: Aya. has cats: My tita has multiple cats. It’s her business, but she also loves those cats to death and pampers them. has dogs: Gabie’s family has four dogs, but I only get to see Harley since the other three aren’t behaved all that well. JM has two dogs, Mika and Alley. has other animals: Michelle has a bird named Moonmoon, but I don’t know what kind of bird it is. A girl I used to be friends with in high school (she was from a different school) had a pet snake. has no pets: Jo. is vegan: @badsurveyshit​! is vegetarian: Not sure if I know someone. Filipinos are obsessed with their meat. is on some other diet: The same tita with a bunch of cats is on a keto diet. has no diet/dietary restrictions: ME is lactose intolerant: Also me. But I still have milk and other dairy stuff because yum haha. has/had cancer: My great-aunt died from cancer. My old Filipino teacher had thyroid cancer, but she beat it. is bipolar: Edi, a friend of mine. is depressed: Me, I guess. plays videogames: My sister, my dad, my kuya, Gabie. loves to read: LAURICE. It’d be such a shame if I went with someone other than Laurice. got a GED: We don’t use that here. never graduated highschool: One of my friends’ mom. graduated college/got a degree: Both my parents, and all of my friends who graduated before me, e.g. Kate, Aya, Luisa, Jane. is or has been enrolled in beauty school: I don’t know anyone. makes YouTube videos: Ricel, my sister’s classmate from high school. She seems like such a sweet and nice person so when she started her channel a few weeks ago, I was more than happy to support her. is white: My uncle from New Zealand (unrelated; he married my mom’s cousin / my aunt). is black: I have a mutual friend from high school who’s half-black, half-brown. His dad, if I remember correctly, is from Nigeria. is Asian: Literally everyone I know!!!!!!!!!! is Hispanic: I don’t know anyone in real life but one of my favorite wrestlers, AJ, is Puerto Rican. is of another race: Everyone I follow on this Tumblr :)) is into photography: Reiven. likes rock: Rick, I think? The few times his earphones were blaring his music too loud it was always hard rock. likes metal: I dunno if I still know any metal fans nowadays. likes pop: Hannah. likes hiphop/rap/R&B: Hans. And all the other kids in uni who think they’re white. likes KPop: JM and Jum. likes country music: No one I know. likes jazz: Gabie and me. likes classical music: Sofie. When I was driving us to Batangas a few weeks ago for a beach getaway, she was in control of the car music and she briefly played stuff from her classical music playlist :(((( I was shookt at first but I liked the music anyway, so I didn’t tell her to change it. is a male: My dad. is a female: Me. is non-binary: Gabie’s editor from this website she’s a part of. is trans: Mac, from high school. He was formerly Maica, but he started going by Mac once he graduated. is straight: Laurice. is gay: Gabie. is bi: Patrice. lives on the eastern half of the USA: My Tito Rocky, who lives in New York. My Tito Raffy is also from New York.  lives on the western half of the USA: Aubrey, Rielle, Norielle, Margeauxe. All originally from elementary/high school, but eventually migrated. lives in a different country: My Tita Pia and her husband, who is the one I listed under the “is white” portion of this survey. They live in Vietnam, but they used to live in New Zealand. is blind/visually impaired: I had a classmate from my History of Southeast Asia class who is legally blind. He has this device he puts on his eye to be able to read our professor’s slides. is deaf/hearing impaired: I don’t know anyone IRL. is in a wheelchair or disabled: One of my orgmates’ mom is in a wheelchair. is austitic/retarded/has learning disbilities: My Tita Bianca. is very thin: Aya. is overweight: Gabie is a few pounds overweight.

[rootofallgreevil]

About the Mun

KNOWING YOUR PARTNER WELL CAN POTENTIALLY MAKE WRITING TOGETHER A LOT EASIER.         (    pls    repost    not    reblog       )

BASICS

NAME:  I go by Haru PRONOUNS: Any/No preference (Genderfluid) SEXUALITY: Bisexual TAKEN OR SINGLE: Married, but in an open relationship. We’ve got big hearts.

THREE FACTS

1.   I’m a huge fucking nerd that plays D&D and magic and videogames all day.  2.   Greevil started as a joke and leftover parts from making my partner a TF toy for their OC using TR Brainstorm and Blurr. Greevil was the leftover parts thrown together and I noticed they looked like a weevil when in alt mode. The name came from the MtG card “Root Greeivl”. 3.   I honestly have no idea what I’m doing 99% of the time and have huge anxiety issues on top of possible undiagnosed autism / adhd, so I have problems initiating RPs and stuff. So if you’re reading this, know that I probably want to start an RP, but don’t know how/can’t bring myself to go about starting it.

EXPERIENCE

HOW LONG (MONTHS / YEARS?):  on tumblr? about 4 months now. Overall? 16+ years. PLATFORMS YOU’VE USED: Mostly old forums but now Tumblr and Discord. Also D&D counts, right? BEST EXPERIENCE: I started an RP thread waaaay back on a messageboard I don’t go to any more that went long enough with about 10 people that we actually had to start a second thread because it got too long. I miss those days...

MUSE PREFERENCES

FEMALE OR MALE: None. I’ve played both male and female characters, characters who are both male and female, and characters who are neither. Mainly because I’ve felt like all of that while finding myself. MULTI OR SINGLE: Usually single muse, but I have done multi in the past.

WRITING PREFERENCES

FLUFF, ANGST OR SMUT:  Mostly fluff, with sprinkles of Angst and Smut. I can’t go too angsty because I just can’t deal with all that, and any smut stuff I do would be private... Though I should mention Greevil is not smut-able.  PLOTS OR MEMES: Both. Plot is great but you gotta have that humor in there or it gets bland. LONG OR SHORT REPLIES:I like doing longform, but that’s more from my forum RP days where there were length requirements. I always feel like I’m not contributing enough if I just put like one sentence. BEST TIME TO WRITE: Literally any time. Due to medical issues I’d been unemployed, and right now it’s just because I can’t get any interviews. (though not for lack of trying! I’ve put in like 30 apps in the last three months as of posting this, and have had two interviews.) ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSE(S): Greevil is far sassier than I Feel comfortable being with anyone I haven’t known for years, and even then I probably don’t say what’s on my mind out of fear of rejection... We do share that social ineptitude though....

Tagged by Stolen from: @skyfallofcybertron Tagging: ...? Light already got tagged and I don’t really know anyone else...

[paragonred]

15 Questions, 15 Mutuals

I was tagged by @gascon-en-exil​ and like him I will answer the same questions because if I have to make my own, I’ll be here all day

1. Are you named after anyone?

My great great uncles or something like that according to my mom, but in truth is was probably after her brothers. She monopolized all the names for the children in the family; my dad wanted to name me after my paternal grandfather, Nicolas (well, what would have been the Spanish language equivalent of his name, seeing as he was Italian). 

2. When was the last time you cried?

Yesterday, I think. I sometimes get really emotional listening to music, and since I got new headphones yesterday I was listening to my favorite songs at max volume so...

3. Do you have kids?

Nope, and the likelihood of having them is pretty low. The only way it would happen is if I got a husband that really wanted them, and made enough money for me to be a stay at home dad (If I made enough money somehow for that, I wouldn’t want to divide my attention between a job and raising kids tbh)

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

With my friends, but only the really obvious kind of sarcasm.

5. What’s the first thing you notice about people?

Besides general appearance, their voice and how they talk.

6. What’s your eye color?

Dark brown.

7. Scary movie or happy ending?

I find scary movies boring, as their plot is usually bare bones and scares rarely affect me and don’t entertain me, so happy ending.

8. Any special talents?

I’ve been told I have a good singing voice? And I know how to cook like, 5 things, but I am very good at those, even if it’s mostly a matter of using a lot of tomato and black pepper.

9. Where were you born?

I was born in Puerto La Cruz, in Venezuela. My family was already on its way out of the country when I was born, so I don’t know much about it tbh. I’ve lived my entire life in Monterrey, Mexico, my mom’s hometown.

10. What are your hobbies?

Videogames and Dungeons and Dragons pretty much. Maybe I should start writing outside of work as well.

11. Do you have any pets?

Nope, never have, never will. I dislike all animals and can’t stand to be touched by any. It makes all the posts regarding cats, dogs, anything online completely unrelatable.

12. What sports do you play/have you played?

Don’t play anything at the time; I have practiced Kung Fu for about six months, same with rugby. I dropped Kung Fu because of a death in the family and college getting harder didn’t give me enough time to remain there. Rugby was due to being surrounded by your typical cadre of straight guys that are into sports - honestly it’s a wonder I lasted as many months as I did there.

13. How tall are you?

1.75 I think?

14. Favorite subject in school?

It’s been a while, but I think I liked history and sometimes math, depending on which brand it was. I liked ESL classes mostly because I already knew most of what they were teaching me and it was fun seeing other classmates’ mistakes.

15. Dream job?

I have no idea at all. Would I prefer to be unemployed and wealthy, or doing something that was related to my interests and found fun? I don’t know the answer.

I’m not tagging anyone, any mutuals feel free to do this if you like.

[yeahnews]

Rock, Paper, Shotgun · October 24, 2021

The Sunday Papers

The Sunday Papers is our weekly roundup of great writing about (mostly) videogames from across the web. Sundays are for nearly having a heart attack when the toaster pops. Before you jolt awake, let's read this week's best writing about games. The folks over at ChaoyangTrap wrote about the popularity of Steam in China and how it's the only platform which hasn't been hit by Chinese censors.Chen Guanpeng’s game Booth is a perfect example of the kind of fascinating and idiosyncratic games that have been able to emerge in this market.

Set in a dystopian world grappling with dire food scarcity, the game casts the player as a food inspector stuck in an isolated booth, checking food products being imported along a conveyor belt into their country. Your only escape from the daily grind of work is the relationships you can form with the three different girls who deliver meals to you, but you later discover that even your personal interactions with them are being used as a method of control and surveillance by your government. It’s not a perfect game, but it’s a truly interesting one with a compelling story invested with player choice.For Fanbyte, Jocelyn Monahan wrote about the growth of Final Fantasy XIV roleplaying venues.To Chihaya, who runs a tavern called the Inkwell, regulars are the part that’s “worth the effort to keep going.” Like the Gin Ironic, the Inkwell is a comfy spot with its own set of quirks: they regularly host a fight night and have a bartender with an unfortunate tendency to set things on fire. Talon feels similarly; regulars are what keep them open every single evening. While both players acutely feel the stress of running a venue ⁠— as Talon says, it’s “mentally taxing”⁠ — it’s the persistent communities they’ve built that keep them going.For Real Life Mag, Tony Tulathimutte wrote about how Clash Rules Everything Around Them.

So the most interesting thing about Clash isn’t how it’s an allegory for late capitalism. (Isn’t everything? Isn’t that the point?) It’s that Clash makes especially clear how everything is interchangeable under such a system. Time is life is work is death is money is property is time. Technology fuzzes the distinction between real and virtual. Like almost every game with a death mechanic, the true currency of Clash isn’t virtual gold but actual time. Dying in a game forces you to waste your time trying again, “spending” part of your limited lifespan on a failed effort. Money can help you enjoy your time in the game more, but there’s no changing that every session brings you five minutes, a hundred thousand coins, and dozens of deaths closer to your death.

For The Art Newspaper, José da Silva wrote about how museums are stepping up exhibition design.Will Guthrie, the lead architect for the show, explains that each gallery for the exhibition was designed to be a different size—”we had points of compression and decompression”—and offer a distinctive environment to reflect the shifts in Lange’s body of work and the narrative of her life. For example, the first room reflected Lange’s early life and was painted a dark green, with domestic details like skirting boards, and a cut-out into the next gallery mimicking a window on the outside world.

The latter was inspired by a story Lange told—her “epiphany”, Guthrie calls it—when she was running a photography studio in San Francisco. Looking out of the window, she saw an unemployed man as the Great Depression began to show on the streets of the city. She grabbed her camera and took to the street to photograph him, thus beginning her remarkable career.To round things off, People Make Games spoke to those who worked on the Mass Effect 3 endings which drew huge backlash at the time.Music this week is Major Happy by Fred V & Grafix. Here's the YouTube link and Spotify link. Psyching myself up for Forza Horizon 5's Hospital Records radio station with this DnB delight. I dare you to read the YouTube comments while it's playing and not shed a tear, good luck.That's me. Have a solid Sunday everyone!

Rock, Paper, Shotgun · October 24, 2021

[fox-and-benedict]

[Fanfic, 100% Orange Juice] Favourite Customer

Series: 100% Orange Juice/ QP Shooting ‘verse Words: 1737 Characters: QP, Aru, Arthur, Syura Originally Posted: Janurary 20th, 2017 (blogspot version) A/N: This is is still one of my favourite humour pieces. Although I feel like I’ve drifted away from this style since, I would like to reprise it or reincorporate it into future comedy stories -- nothing that produces the phrase ‘pew pew windmill’ can be bad. This was also the start of my QP/Aru shipping.

Aru's ears drooped. Despite being a functional killing machine equipped with the powers of flight, seasonal gifts, and spewing bullets out of her face, she was still beholden to her lapine nature. Some part of her would always dislike loud noises, unnatural tastes and arguments, and the look on Arthur's face told her that an argument was well on the way. "Hey, Mr Shopkeeper. Give me a cola, with plenty of ice," Syura commanded. Syura was petite, redheaded, and completely unaware of her own particular place on the food chain. There was a certain smugness about her that screamed Stage 1 boss, in Aru's opinion. "Do this look like a grocery store, kid?" Arthur growled, his eye twitching behind his dark glasses. The butt of his cigarette, held loosely at the corner of his mouth in defiance of all smoking laws, crumpled as his jaw begin to grind. "We don't stock cola." "Who cares if you stock it? I asked for a cola. A real, hot-blooded merchant would see this as an opportunity," Syura replied, half wheedling, half scolding. "Oh, believe me, my blood is boiling right about now. I'm a businessman, not an errand boy. How about you take a little walk around the block and get a cola yourself?" "Hey, I'm doing you a favour, businessman. You know how much time and money real businesses spend on analytics to figure out what their customers want? I just told you for free. It's my first time in this shop, my frenemy is showing me around, and I want a cola. Make it happen," the girl said, puffing out her somewhat unimpressive chest. "Of course, I'll pay you extra for your time. I'm not an unreasonable lady." "That's just because you ain't a lady," Arthur sighed. He stubbed out his cigarette in a cheap ashtray on the shop counter, and blew a leisurely ring of smoke. "...How much extra we talking about?" Syura smiled a catlike smile, and launched her negotiations in earnest. She was a veteran of videogame bartering systems and economics; she knew how much a broadsword was worth and how much an adventurer could expect to be paid for slaying their first novelty giant-sized rat. Arthur, on the other hand, knew how to use his stern looks and rough voice to gouge a price. It ought to be a close contest, Aru thought, but it was better than an actual fight. Assured that she would have no need to administer some concussive diplomacy, she turned her attention to QP. QP was a regular customer at the Rbit Room. In fact, she was the regular customer. Not everybody had the temperament, discipline or desire to learn the ancient arts of the battle bunnies. In fact, the general, uneducated consensus was that these arts did not exist, which was a definite problem when it came to paying the bills. Yet QP would wander into the shop after school like clockwork, clutching her allowance in her hands, carefully inspecting musty tomes on rabbit warfare and then asking if the contents could, perhaps, be summed up in the form of a limerick or a haiku to help her understand them. Aru was not particularly good at either, which lead to memorable offerings like: Glimmer of power, You are the pew-pew windmill What up, it's Orbit Regardless, the dog girl always seemed to appreciate the effort, because, as she said, it came from the heart. She had a talent for seeing the best in everybody that Aru, as a result of her own duty to peer into the hearts of children across the globe and pronounce a select portion of them to be naughty in the sovereign eyes of Santa, had difficulty fathoming. QP did not, for instance, see Arthur as a grizzled, chain smoking, questionably ethical merchant motivated only by raw greed and the fear of Aru's retribution. In fact, her opinion of Arthur seemed to stop at "tall", which was a small mercy for all parties involved. "What brings you here today, QP? We're always delighted to see you, but are you looking for anything in particular?" Aru asked, ignoring the intense economic debate going on between Syura and Arthur. QP scratched her nose. "Well, uh... Actually, Syura was just being really weird, and I needed an adult. The closest thing to an adult I know is a big bullying cat who throws darts around everywhere and leads an evil organisation dedicated to taking over the world, so I decided you were my next best bet." "You keep such interesting social circles," Aru murmured. "I don't really keep them. I'd throw them back into the ocean if I could. I just keep running into strange people and they stick to me," the dog replied mournfully. Ah, so she's acquired a quirky stable of friends she doesn't really like that much, Aru thought. She's finally begun to mature as a shoot 'em up protagonist. She left that unsaid, and tried a different tack. "I'm happy for you to hang around as long as you like, but I don't really understand... Syura is your friend, right?" "Kind of." "Kind of?" "It's ambiguous," Syura said proudly, having paid Arthur four times the going rate for a cola and sent him on his way. She was flush from what she no doubt considered a victory. "Nice to meet you, by the way. I'm Syura, embryonic developer of videogames. One day, I will hatch into a beautiful game dev swan!" Aru fought the urge to roll her eyes. "Very interesting social circles, indeed. What exactly was she doing that was so weird?" QP opened her mouth to talk, but Syura beat her to it. "I wasn't doing anything weird. In fact, I was being generous, and telling my unemployed friend here how I'd give her a job when I get my studio all set up." "She wants me to wear a maid outfit," QP added, mournfully. Syura shrugged. "Well, of course. Your head is full of pudding, so I can't let you handle any of the code. All you'd need to do is flutter around the studio, bring me tea, address me as master, let me rest my head in your lap and massage my temples whenever I get tired of looking at the computer screen, and then occasionally do some light debugging. It's a cushy gig!" "The rest I could deal with, but the debugging is too much! It's sexual harassment! Tell her, Aru!" the dog said, and clung to Aru's arm like it was a anchor against a flood of madness. Aru, however, had transcended her mortal form and was roaming in the magical world of her own imagination. A girl with dog ears and a maid outfit? Surely it was too much power for one mortal to have. The amount of money and popularity that she could amass in the hidden circles of the world was astronomical. A very small part of Aru -- the part that mourned as it watched the Rbit room go into decline, the part that wanted to eat quality food instead of economy rice day after day after day -- whispered in the back of her head, telling her that she should harness that power. Another part of Aru had gone in an entirely different direction. QP was her favourite customer, but she'd rarely ever seen her wearing anything but her school uniform. Putting aside the maid cosplay, which was too dangerous to think about in public, she wondered what her friend would look like in more classically feminine clothes. "Aru? Earth to Aru? You zoned out for a little while there," QP called, waving her hand in front of the rabbit's eyes. "While drooling," Syura added helpfully. "Yes, well, um, shop harassment is against sexual rules. I mean, sexual harassment is against shop rules!" the rabbit replied, feeling a trickle of sweat wind its way down her forehead. There was a moment of silence. Then there was another moment of silence, consecutive to the last. Moments of silence began to shunt into each other like minecarts on a crowded track. Overpopulation of moments of silence began to threaten the national ecosystem, and local government authorities sent out an all-points bulletin to park rangers announcing the sad necessity of a cull. Then, at last, Syura spoke. "Fine. I'll allow it. You go on ahead, QP. I want to actually look around this goofy little shop and drink my cola." QP, anxious to escape and run home for a cup of well-earned pudding, seized the chance and trotted out of the shop. Syura watched her go, a wide smile on her face. After the dog had been gone for a good few seconds, she turned to Aru, and grinned. Aru blanched. "...Were you looking for any merchandise in particular?" she tried. "No," Syura replied, shrugging. "I was just thinking that maybe we share some interests, you know? We could be great friends. Hey, hey. Take a look at this for a moment." She produced a phone from her pocket, and began pressing buttons faster than Aru could comprehend, her fingers no more than a blur passing over the screen. Before long, she had found what she was looking for, and presented the phone to Aru, her chest puffed out with pride. On the screen was a picture of a maid uniform. It was high quality, dyed sumptuous black with a pristine white apron. It was also very short. Aru felt breezy just looking at it. "So, let's skip the formalities and get down to business. I think that with enough prodding, I can get QP into this thing. How much are you prepared to pay for pictures?" "...Make me an offer," Aru said, making a steeple of her fingers. "20 apiece?" "20?! Listen, friend, I asked you to make me an offer, not make me angry," Aru growled, warming to her part. Arthur was a hard nosed, occasionally crooked businessman. Aru kept the Rbit room in business and still had enough left over to buy toys for the world's children at the end of the year. Negotiating was her strong suit. "For 20, I'd want fifteen minutes of lap pillow and the skirt would need to be at least two inches shorter." Syura looked at her, blank eyed. Then, slowly, she began to smile. "You know what, Aru?" she said. "I think we're gonna get along great."

[thatweirdfeel]

Day 3

I woke up this morning the first time to the bin lorries outside, which gave me the chance to enjoy the warmth of the bed before dozing off again for an hour. The second time was the probably the last time for today, and I awoke feeling awake again, which was pleasant. I spent the morning doodling on some drawing app, terrible drawings but a lot of fun. Made vegetarian sausage sandwiches for myself and my girlfriend for a late breakfast/lunch, and had one of those cartons of coffee cos I couldn’t be bothered to make my own.

I’ll start with the pesto pastries I did end up making last night. Sadly they didn’t turn out as well as I hoped, I think I put too much pesto on so the moisture meant that the middle of the puff pastry didn’t cook properly and was raw. A shame, but I think using less pesto would fix that. The feta and tomatoes were great though, no complaints there.

Whilst I really should be writing cover letters and applying to jobs, I can’t really bring myself to start that and I don’t know why. I feel really lazy and shitty about myself because of it. It might be the immensity of the task ahead of me. It could be I’m not used to writing much anymore. It could just be laziness. Irrespective of the cause, the result is that I have no plans today.

I’ll probably have a toke, play some videogames, I might even try to get myself to read again, but that last one is proving much harder than I could have possibly imagined all those long years ago. If 11 year old me was told that in 11 years I would be depressed, unemployed, and watching the months without finishing a book tick by I doubt they would have believed you. If you told them that I hadn’t written anything in years, they wouldn’t have believed you.

Alas, time makes a mockery of all things. Enough drama, back to today’s non-plan. Have a toke or two, play some videogames, possibly Vic2 as I am in the middle of a surprisingly successful Ireland run. I could port it over to HOI4 but knowing me I’d just fuck it up, I’ve not quite got the hang of that game yet. I could go for a walk, unusually, the sun is actually giving off some heat and isn’t coyly hiding from us behind the clouds, but it is still pretty fucking cold so I don’t know how much fun that would end up being.

Well I took a little break between finishing writing this post and posting it, and in that time we decided to dye my girlfriends hair, so it appears like we will not being going for a walk, and that is fine, cos she is excited about her hair. A very messy process, to which I will be assisting as her cleaner/busybody whilst she does all the hard work.

[efeitoplural-blog]

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[equalityforher]

Basic Income: A Feminist Issue

By Lindsey Weedston

Feminism’s biggest problem is and always has been how it treats women who are further marginalized. Many feminists refer to this as “intersectionality,” a term coined by Professor Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, leading critical race scholar and creator of intersectional theory. It was originally used to describe how the oppression of womanhood and blackness overlap to create a unique experience. It was then expanded to include issues of gender identity, ability, sexual orientation, social class, and so on. The idea is that someone who experiences one form of oppression does not have all the same problems as someone who experiences that form of oppression and others, and not to the same degree.

This is demonstrated in the fact that black, native, and Latina women earn less on the white man’s dollar than white women do. Or the fact that disabled women don’t generally suffer from catcalling and are often depicted as completely non-sexual, yet experience much higher rates of sexual abuse than able-bodied women.

Feminists are often criticized for failing to take intersectionality into account. Prominent rich, white, cis feminists regularly give advice that only a privileged section of women can reasonably follow (“Lean In”) and then are surprised when so many women who don’t have that privilege get upset. At the same time, similarly privileged feminists are out there every day, organizing campaigns that leave out trans women and marches that don’t take accessibility into account and using language stolen from women of color. They tell us to get degrees in science or run for office or risk our jobs by reporting sexual harassment without considering the fact that many of us are too poor to do so.

Basic income is a set sum of money given to every resident or citizen by the government every month or year with no strings attached. For example, Finland started a program at the beginning of this year that gives 2,000 unemployed citizens €560 per month - about $627. The hope is that this will encourage these individuals to look for part time jobs without having to worry about losing their unemployment benefits. In Finland, like in the U.S., earning any income can greatly reduce or eliminate a person’s unemployment payout, even if that income still isn’t enough to reasonably live on.

Growing basic income movements across the world are putting forth the idea that people could be given enough money to lift everybody out of poverty by the government, solving the myriad of problems that come with not having enough cash to meet your basic needs. Zoltan Istvan, California gubernatorial candidate for 2018 and basic income advocate, said that “each California household could receive over $50,000 annually if the 45 million acres of unused land were developed,” according to the Basic Income Earth Network, and that this would “lift 19 million Californians out of poverty.”

Class is not the be-all and end-all of oppression, as some individuals believe. But it does have an effect on every marginalized individual, and oppression and poverty tend to go hand-in-hand. Therefore, any feminist who claims to want to be intersectional should advocate for basic income.

It’s not an easy sell, especially in the U.S. Racialized misconceptions about work ethic and rumors of “lazy takers” and mythical “welfare queens” abound - it’s assumed that without the threat of starving to death, many people won’t work at all. This is untrue. A basic income experiment done back in the 1970’s in a small town in Manitoba, Canada found that the only people who quit their jobs under basic income were young people who wanted to stay in school. Mothers also wanted longer maternity leave, but still, most of those who were employed stayed employed. This is largely due to the simple fact that people need to do something with their time in order to feel good.

While it’s true that “being active” or “productive” isn’t a magical cure for clinical depression, it’s also true that people who have nothing to do tend to become depressed. This is why post-retirement anxiety and depression is such a common phenomenon - and why so many retirees seek part-time employment even when they don’t need it financially. If it’s true with people past age 65, it’s going to be true with younger people.

As for where the money will come from, there are a multitude of proposals on how it could be funded, but the money is there. Plus, the idea is that basic income will significantly reduce the cost of tax-funded services. Experiments in basic income have found that it reduces emergency room visits and mental health care costs, plus costs related to crime. It’s a big investment into giving everyone a better world instead of using that money to clean up the results of poverty.

But the best and most feminist part of basic income is how it will help all women and all people of marginalized identities, particularly those who are so often forgotten by privileged feminism. Disabled and chronically ill women won’t have to worry so much about whether they’ll be able to live. Though you can get welfare payments for disability, the hoops that these individuals are forced to jump through in order to get a sum that is no longer enough to live on are a full time job and a constant source of anxiety. Basic income in unconditional. They won’t lose it if they save up too much money or a form gets lost in the mail. If universal healthcare is also implemented (which should be another top feminist goal), they could live in relative peace instead of being forced into poverty at high rates because of something they can’t control.

If I had basic income, I could go to therapy for my mental illness without having to worry so much about the cost or how it might conflict with my work. Last year, I had to give up going to therapy to get a 8 to 5, Monday through Friday job. Since my therapist also keeps those hours, I couldn’t see her anymore. Luckily I don’t desperately need it, but if I did, it would severely limit my job prospects and/or which therapist I could see - and it’s hard enough to find a good therapist.

Although marriage equality is great, one of the biggest problems for LGBT+ people is the high rate of homelessness. To this day, teens are still kicked out of their homes by homophobic and transphobic parents, forcing them onto the streets. Homeless shelters aren’t enough to protect them, and can be unsafe, especially for trans people. Feminism has such a persistent problem with transmisogyny, with trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs) misgendering refusing space to these vulnerable women, and even going so far as to fight to take away their ability to exist in society. Trans women of color in particular face shockingly high rates of murder, and living on the streets increases that risk exponentially. Basic income could save so many of these lives and likely reduce suicide rates, as well.

Arguably the most often forgotten women are the sex workers. I’m not here to argue that basic income should be implemented to save them, because many sex workers like what they do and would continue regardless. But as long as sex work remains taboo and some forms illegal, personal safety will be an issue for them. With basic income, however, many of these individuals who are struggling to get by won’t have to consider putting themselves in a risky situation so that they can eat the next day. They could afford to be choosier with clients, reducing their high rates of on-the-job violence.

Wage gaps shrinking. Educational gaps disappearing. Parents able to spend more time with their kids no matter how much money they make. With so many problems alleviated by basic income, we could better focus on the rest of the issues plaguing marginalized communities. It’s even possible that otherwise privileged poor people might not feel the need to take out their frustrations by attacking immigrants, Muslims, people of color, and anyone else easy to blame for their problems.

Getting basic income may not be an easy goal, but neither is eliminating rape culture, or achieving parity in government, or getting men to calm the hell down and stop killing us. If there is such a thing as a unified feminist agenda, let basic income be one of the top on the list. Our feminism will raise up all women, or it will be bullshit.

Lindsey Weedston is a white, cis, pansexual Seattle-based feminist writer and creator of the blog Not Sorry Feminism. She is working toward a career as a full-time advocate for social justice, human rights, and boosting up marginalized communities. You might also find her playing videogames, watching Netflix, and trying not to be anxious about everything.