#and he likes knowing that if he DOES do something wrong then there's a guarunteed result (safeword) which tells him to stop and change

[my-thoughts-and-junk]

a character's self-deprication being what keeps them from being in a relationship can be really good but mostly when the self deprication is 1. justified and 2. only no longer an issue because their significant other is Into whatever they're angsting about

[emptymanuscript]

What to call it

One of the very first pieces of advice I got from a professional writer was, “Call it what it is.” 

So if you have something from the planet Takeesha that looks like an elephant just a bit taller, purple, two extra tusks, and a slightly flatened and wider trunk you do not call it a Urabor. Even if that’s what the Takeeshans call it. You call it a Takeeshan Elephant. And you can perhaps mention that the natives call it Urabor if you wish. 

Why call it a Takeeshan Elephant instead of an Urabor? Because the first job of a writer, even before great plot, stellar characters, and genius imagination is clarity. For you it is easy. You can picture the Urabor perfectly because you have imagined it perfectly. But your reader does not have YOUR imagination. You cannot take the images in your head and just transplant them. You have to translate. All fiction is to some degree an act of translation, moving a story out of your head and into text which is an entirely different medium. So you have to be clear so the translation can be understood by the reader. That’s why the Takeeshan Elephant instead of an Urabor because your reader knows what an Elephant is while the words Takeeshan and Urabor are completely alien. They are not in translation. But, we know if we put a name in front of Elephant, like African Elephant, that it is specifying what kind of Elephant it is. So the reader can use the rules they already know and come to the right translation. 

This is true of animals, rocks, weapons, starship engine parts, etc. Clarity is what you need to make the translation which is your writing work. It’s also why the right word is important. The wrong word gets the reader to imagine the wrong thing. But what if it is the right word even though the reader probably knows it wrong? 

Let’s take King. Elective Monarchy has been a frequent occurence in history. The absolute ruler was elected and only then ruled for life. His child was not guarunteed to be elected, and early on in such a system frequently wasn’t. This is absolutely historically accurate. The problem is that it isn’t what most people in your audience think of when they think King. Most people think of an absolute monarch from birth, ruling by some claim of divine right. Because that’s where our culture came from. Same with temporary Kingships. They happened. People were appointed or elected Regent to be the temporary absolute Monarch. So an elected temporary King is real to history. But most of our readership is going to think of that as President. A President weilds great authority for a temporary period, even if you are only president for life. So if you start with president and then introduce absolute authority, the audience will probably follow because it isn’t that far out of their thoughts. But if you start with King and then add elected and temporary, many will balk because it doesn’t fit with how they’ve thought of things. Yes, you have facts on your side. But remember, you are translating and your job is to be as clear as possible. Err on the side of the reader. 

Or you can say, “the King rode in a throne set on the back of his magnificent Urabor, it’s tusks shining and it’s trunk bellowing to announce him. It would be the last time he made the parade, the term of his election was almost up.” If you need to use the terms your audience won’t get, put the descriptions and exceptions as far to the front as you can. This is teaching your audience the other language you are translating out of. But again, your aim is for clarity, make sure they get the other language and that things are arranged in the way that it is best for them to do so.

[eldritchsurveys]

963.

5k Survey LVII

2901. have you ever written a letter to: a friend: a lover: a celebrity: congress/house/reps: the president/leader of your country: >> I haven’t written a letter since, like, middle school. 2902. Why are ciggarette companies allowed to manufacture and sell ciggarettes when they are so unhealthy and dangerous? They are getting rich on the deaths of the people you love who smoke. >> What do you mean, why are they allowed? Because, yes, it makes an insane amount of profit, and their corporate lobbyists basically pour vats of money into politicians’ laps. This is how capitalism works. This is one of many reasons why we hate it. 2903. Do you chat with people in an elevator? >> No. 2904. What's your favorite Jack Nicholson movie? >> I don’t think I have one. I mean, The Shining was good... 2905. Who should play the part of Superman? >> I couldn’t care less.

2906. Do you like when your friends and your mate's friends hang out? >> If this was a situation I could feasibly be in (as in, we both had solidified friend groups in the first place), I definitely wouldn’t mind it. 2907. Doritos or Cheetos? >> I hate both. 2910. Do you brush your teeth three times a day? >> Hell no. 2911. Should I stop making question swith multiple parts and just count each actual question as a question? >> Yeah, I’ve been consolidating them most of the time because it just irks me for some undefined reason. 2912. What gives your ego a boost? >> I don’t know. I’m not terribly acquainted with the feeling of having my ego boosted. Even with things like comments on my fics my brain will make up a flip side to be sad about so I can’t be too pleased, because gods forbid I ever feel just entirely good about myself. One fucking day... 2913. What knocks your ego down? >> A lot of things, lmao. 2914. Live and let live or live and let die? >> Er... 2915. What do you think of Damien Hirst's art piece Mother and Child, which is half a cow in formaldedhyde? >> I’ve never seen it and it doesn’t sound worth looking up. I don’t get how the title relates, either. 2916. Why is it that 70 percent of americans Do Not want to go to war with Iraq and yet we are going to war with Iraq anyway? Is this democracy? >> This country rarely functions like an actual democracy. Also, there are way too many political questions in this survey lately, let’s go back to talking about me. ~ 2917. Imagine you have two chices of what life you can live: One: You are provided with meals, medicine, clothes and shelter. You are always with your family. You can lie in the sun and smoke, drink, play, cook, etc.. There will be certain rules you must follow such as no killing, no hurting others, no leaving the commune you were born in, no stealing, no tv, no newspapers and no books. OR Two: You are turned loose in the world with nothing. You start out cold and hungry. You may stay cold and hungry forever but you also have the opportunity to try and make a life for yourself. This will take a lot of hard work and there is no guaruntee you will ever live comfortably. Which life do you choose? WHY? >> Here’s the thing -- having a meta option like this is fucked, because if you’re just born into one life or the other, you don’t know anything else. So you learn to live with what you’ve got, and it becomes yours. It is your lot and you will live with it (or commit suicide, I guess). But having to choose between one or the other... is a whole different thing entirely. Will you remember the choice you made? Will you wonder if it was the right one? Will you always be wondering that? How do you truly enjoy any life you’re given, if you know you could have chosen a different one? Every bad day becomes “I bet I wouldn’t be dealing with this if I’d picked Life A” and every good day becomes “see, I knew I picked the right life” and it’s just... it’s not at all how I’d want to live, let’s just put it that way. So, no. Roulette-wheel me without my ken and let me learn to live wherever I land. 2918. Why is there no 'Mr. America' pageant? Should there be? What qualities would YOU look for in a Mr. America if such a contest were to exist (like miss america he would have to be a role model)? >> I don’t care about pageants, I think they’re utterly absurd. 2919. If something offends you do you feel that it has no right to exist? >> If something legitimately offends me, yeah. Like, I can’t imagine any good reason why racism should exist... 2920. Why do advertisers seem to believe that guys will buy any product that a hot girl in a bikini is sitting next too? >> Advertisers believe that because of their market research and social observations. As flawed and manipulative and biased as all that can be. 2921. What would you do if your mom had a fight with a male acquaintance and you heard an answering machine message he left her cursing at her, calling her names and being very disrespectful? >> --- 2922. What do you represent? >> I don’t represent anything. 2923. What message does ___ send when given as a birthday present? flowers: slippers: candles: diamond necklace: gift certificate: cash: books: 2924. Have you ever completed a paint by number? If yes of what? >> Maybe when I was a child. 2925. How long has it been since you colored in a coloring book? >> A year or two. 2926. What have you been caught doing? >> ??? 2927. Does temptation make you do what you love? >> What??? 2928. Do you have an gadgets in the house that you don't know how to use? What? >> Probably, but it would just be a matter of looking up how to use it. Nothing terribly complicated. 2929. Do you read the instructions to things or skip them? >> It depends on the thing. Like, I don’t read the instructions to new laptops because they all basically work the same, but I did read the instructions to my gaming rig because it had to be kind of assembled and certain wires had to go certain places and shit like that. 2930. Will yu ever reach your full potential? >> --- 2931. Who is your biggest fan? >> I don’t know. Can Calah, probably. :) 2932. Who do you take care of? Who takes care of you? >> Can Calah takes care of me. I don’t take care of anyone. 2933. Do you think that lawyers should only argue cases when they feel like the client is in the right? If you were a lawyer would you argue cases when you felt like your client was completely wrong? >> I really have no opinion about this (and I would never be a lawyer). 2934. Is it sexy in here or is it just me? >> --- 2935. You are giving out your phone number to a HOTTIE by writing it on a napkin. Do you write a little note or draw a picture too? If yes, what? >> --- 2936. Can you fold paper into anything (a hat, a swan, a boat, etc)? What? >> I can do some basic origami but nothing fancy. 2937. How can a girl get a guy-she-is-dating's mom to like her better? >> --- 2938. What is one theory about life or anything that you came up with that no one else has? >> --- 2939. Do you like answering questions about: your life? Oh, brother. Formatting this is going to be so annoying... your taste? tv? music? art? politics? life? religion? issues? sex? loved ones? favorites? objects? math? philosophy? hypothetical situations? things that require lots of thought? 2940. The mortuary science department is having a bake sale. Does this strike you as funny? >> No, because I can’t figure out what the joke would be. Like, if all the baked goods were shaped like organs or something, that’d be amusing. Otherwise... ??? 2941. What would you think of a new reality tv game show where real life criminals on death row competed in life threatening tasks for the prize of a reduced sentance? Did you know that they are considering making this a show? Would you watch it? >> I wouldn’t watch something like that, no. 2942. What was the last song you looked up the words to? >> I don’t remember, but I did think about looking up the words to Dragonsong from FFXIV and trying to memorise them. It seems like it’d be a fun exercise to try and sing it. 2943. What Saturday morning cartoons do you like? >> I don’t even know what counts as a Saturday morning cartoon anymore. Is that still a thing, or has cable basically phased that out? 2944. If anything's possible, then is it possible that nothing's possible? >> I don’t know, man. 2944. What does the T in T-Shirt really mean? >> I don’t know. Google does, though. 2945. Would you alter your routine if there was a sniper in your area? If so how? >> My routine mostly involves being indoors, so I doubt I’d even have to change anything. 2946. Is castration a good punishment for extreme or repeat sexual offenders? >> No. 2947. If you are a girl have you ever experianced penis envy? If you are a guy would you still want to live if you had to be castrated? >> --- 2948. Imagine you are teaching a class of sixth graders. A the start of the year you tell them, "If you come away with class and have learned only ONE THING, I hope that you learned....(finish the sentence) >> --- 2949. If you were being interviewed for a job in a clothing store how would you sell yourself to the prospective employers? >> I wouldn’t. It’s retail, dude. Either hire me or don’t, but don’t expect me to do some kind of song and dance for it. 2950. How do you stop pop up ads? >> uBlock Origin.

[bbookybunss]

PSA

As stated in my bio box, I am Filipino/American and this whole racism thing is honestly pissing me off from both ends. Lemme rant a lil.

No, it is not okay for anyone of ANY race to hate on another, whether this be white or otherwise. POC get so much shit that they shouldn’t. My mother even got asked if she spoke English once when she was trying to politely communicate to white a customer just because she was Filipino! Like, are you fucking kidding me?! That’s only one of the many examples I could give, but I won’t because then this post would be a bajillon pages long. Aside from that, there are racist groups all over the world and it’s absolutely heartbreaking. But, what makes it even worse, is the media. I will go into further detail later.

But, here’s the thing; NOT ALL WHITE PEOPLE ARE RACIST! NOT ALL WHITE PEOPLE SUPPORT TRUMP! Do you think my CAUCASIAN father would have married a Filipino woman if he was a racist? No! Do you think many of his best friends would be poc if he were a racist? Big fucking no! My dad actually got confronted by an African American man a few days ago, and this is how it went.

My dad and his best friend were chilling out when all of a sudden, an African American man pulled up to them and proceeded to talk shit about white people.

“All white people are fucking racists,” he claimed.

My dad was completely stunned. This usually kind man, who has lived in our neighborhood for years and has had no problem with anyone beforehand, was suddenly saying that all whites were racist. So, my dad asked him what he meant.

“This white lady in the next neighborhood over made a hate page for me on Facebook and a bunch of white racists kept saying that if they saw me, they were going to shoot me,” he explained (still very angrily. I don’t blame him at all.)

At this point my dad had had enough. So, he stepped forward and the man began to get out of his car.

“There’s no reason to get out of the car,” my dad said. “But I want to ask you something. My brother-in-law, who happens to be one of my best friends, is black. My wife is Filipina. Does that make me a racist?”

The man looked around uncomfortably before saying, “Well no, but those guys-”

“Screw those guys then,” my dad said. “They don’t know you so they don’t get to judge you. Just like you don’t get to group me in with those people, because I’m not a racist. I’ve given you no reason to think about me like that and you’ve given me no reason to think of you how those idiots do, so don’t group me in with them.”

After this, my dad, his best friend, and our neighbor talked for a while. The man then left with a smile on his face and a “Thank you, man. I feel so much better after talking to you.”

Now do you see my point? Yes, there are those fucking white idiots who are racist, but there are also white people who aren’t. And no, people of color do not deserve any hate whatsoever just because of their skin color. If you think they do, then there must be something wrong with your fucking head and you should get yourself checked! If you think that all white people are racist, then you should get yourself checked! The media, as I said earlier, is the main reason why people are led to believe these things.

It starts with the news and then spreads to all different platforms of social media. There, people stretch the truth and fucking lie. It’s on Instagram where I actually read that someone claimed that all Muslims are terrorists? Excuse me?! No they’re not! On a different media platform I read that all black people are undeucated. Excuse me?! No they are not! When people tell you to be careful about what you believe from social media, they really mean it nowadays. I mean, the world is a major shitstorm and part of that is because people are uneducated in the matter they are talking about.

So, I hope that this rant makes sense to you, and that you become more careful in this awful world, because it fucking sucks enough as it is. There is no fucking reason why ANY race should be hated on, be it white, asian, black, or otherwise. Educate yourselves, educate your friends, and educate your family on this matter. I guaruntee the world will be just a little bit better after you do.

[themasturcait]

(De-) Stress the heck out!

Okay, if you’re gonna sit there and say: “yeah nah, never been stressed a day in my life.” You’re a flippin’ liar. We all suffer from stress at some point in life. Its normal af. If you DON’T get stressed, I’d be worried about you as a human and whether or not you had a soul… How to explain stress in human form: that kinda sweaty annoying tingly feeling on the back of your neck, and the feel of your breakfast not sittin’ so well in your bowels, and you scoutin’ the area to see if there are any toilets near “just in case”. Yeah, that’s stress. Causes of stress: Um, life. Nah but seriously. I stress over everything. Friends, work, the future, my relationship, MONEY (shock horror), the fact I never have ANYTHING to wear. And all that first world stuff. Now I’m not gonna go into anxiety in this, I’ll leave stress’ older uglier sister for another blog. Stress is one of those things that just HAPPENS. It CAN even be a bloody good thing sometimes. I mean if we didn’t stress, we wouldn’t care, and whatever we’re stressed about its because we’re probably worried that things aren’t going to turn out okay and because we CARE TOO MUCH. So in turn…by stressing, we can push ourselves to do better... Does this make sense? Whether its pushing ourselves to do better at work and impress our boss, or to stand up to to a “pal” who’s making you feel like shit. If you don’t have a handle on your stress it can be super flippin’ easy to go all Nazi on everyone, though. Man have I put my parents and partner through some SHIT cause I’m havin’ a psycho stress FREAK OUT. You know the ones. Where you can’t rationalise and you’re overthinking EVERYTHING and nothing ANYONE says will calm you down and the world is JUST GOING TO END. Yeah, those. Work stress is the number ONE thing human beans tend to stress over, and boy is it a killah. We spend the majority of our time at work, and if you’re not enjoying yourself, it isn’t a good time. I think we put way too much pressure on ourselves and when our expectations aren’t in our control you feel like everything’s going to shit! The obvious – working long hours, poor management and workplace bullying are such insanely common factors in the workplace. It actually sickens me to think of what some people go through at work and how much stress they’re putting on themselves, not only mentally, but physically too. If work is making you THAT unwell and unhappy. BE GONE WITH IT. Search for something else. There will be a workplace for you and a team that treats you the way you deserve to be treated. If you don’t move on, how will you ever know, right? I definitely KNOW I overthink way too much and know that leads to the majority of my stress. “Do my friends actually like me?” “Will people want to hang with me even though I’ve gained all this weight?” “Fuck I’ve gained a lot of weight” “Shit I’m getting sick, can’t afford to have sick day, but am dying, lord help me Jesus.” “I HAVE NO FUCKING MONEY SO NO I WILL NOT COME OUT FOR A PINT.” *majority of time still proceeds to go out for middy as yolo. I don’t think a lot of humans understand the physical thangs that can impact you when dealing with stress... and I deal with these things most days when faced with stress: -Low energy. “Yes I have slept 17 hours. No I will not get up anytime soon. Yes I will proceed to lay here doing nothing, thank you.” -Pounding headaches. Your BRAIN is workin’ too fkn hard. Prob gonna explode soon. -Upset tummy. Legit. Always scout for bathrooms. Stress can srsly give you THE SHITS. -Chest pain. Am I having a heart attack? But I’m too young to die. -insomnia. wOT.iz.SLEP? I’ll just lay here staring at my boyfriend until he can feel my eyes burning into him and then maybe he’ll give me attention -Sick. All. The. Fucking. Time. Tissues and nasal spray are my new bestfriends. AND LETS NOT EVEN GET FUCKIN STARTED ON LIBIDO. Man, you think I wanna ride dat WHEN I’M WORRYING ABOUT WHETHER I’M GONNA HAVE ENOUGH MONEY IN MY ACCOUNT TO BUY LUNCH BC MY PAY HASN’T GONE IN OR IF MY TYRES GONNA GO FLAT ON ME IN THE MORNING BC ITS REALLY OLD AND BALDING AND OMG I JUST CAN’T EVEN BELIEVE YOU WOULD THINK I WOULD I AM DEALING WITH SO MUCH RITE NOW U ARE SO SELFISH TO EVEN SUGGE- You get it. I’ve tried basically everything known to man to DEAL with stress. There’s no cure, ya just gotta DEAL. Here’s a few little things I like to do to try and de-stress and calm my mind. -Meditate. Seriously. Its not just for hippies. It really works!!! Even 10 mins a day. There’s something hell chilled about listening to a man telling you to focus on your breathing. Having the ability to control your breathing will help SO SO much when dealing with stress. -Yoga. Again, not just for hippies. A super good exercise to clear your silly little head. In fact, any fuckin exercise. Seriously ITS TRUE. EXERCISE IS THE FLIPPIN CURE. SWEAT THAT STRESS OUUUUUTTT. -Light up scented candles and make your space smell nice. Ain’t no-one gon’ be stressed with a caramel smellin’ bedroom lemme tell ya. -Open your windows and get some fresh light in. As much as you might wanna retreat in your cave, that sunlight and cool breeze will do a world of wonders. Trust. Breathe that shit in. -HAVE A GOOD SLEEP. Stay the fuck away from your phone at least half an hour before you go to sleep. Yes, god forbid, don’t check insta (unless its mine) right before you go to sleep. Your phone light is the worst stimulant and I guarantee it’ll keep you up longer than you should. Just layin’ there. STRESSING about how tired you’re gonna be at work the next day. - I hate saying this, but cut down on the booze and drink MUCH, muuuch more water. Don’t get me wrong, I love a glass of red after a stressful day. But I don’t have a whole bottle. Unless its Friday… or Saturday…or Sunday night…. Fuck I have a problem. -Have a bath, cleanse your face and listen to some super chilled out tunes. There’s something about that warm water that just chills me da eff out. Probably warming up my COLD HEART -Lastly for me: Writing. Getting all your thoughts out. Especially at the end of the day right before bed. We all love to vent, and I GUARUNTEE 1000% you’ll feel so much better getting it all out, instead of having all those poisonous thoughts locked up in your head. Stress is not something you should feel like you have to justify or explain. Your entitled to your stress. Just don’t let it consume your life. It does still consume a lot of my life but I’m working on dealing with it a lot more. And remember, worrying is like punishing yourself twice. So don’t fuckin do it, yeah?