#and now you dont get the patience of 'theyre just a kid theyre learning | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

abombihoney · 3 years

Text

PART TWO of its free kids au

spoilers long post etc

Kabbu's story is basically the same. except he's just like 9 years old. He does make it to defiant root, a nice beetle couple take him in.

Tragically, because i need a reason for Vi to be outside the hive, they are Aethina tumida. A kind of beetle that likes to eat young larvae and eggs of honeybees.

They are of course, perfectly capable of not doing that. They are basically just cannibals with a preference for bees lol. occasionally they pay a bee in the hive to smuggle out a larva and some eggs that won't be missed. Kabbu catches wind of this and is obv Not Down with Baby Murder, he manages to grab the larva and fucking Run For It.

He barely manages to make it across the lost sands. lucky for him, Elizant's ladybug ban just happened a few years ago, and the bandit problem isnt nearly as bad as it is in canon. He still doesnt get out unscathed tho.

He takes very good care of the larva, so good that she cocoons and pupates into a tiny but healthy young bee. Kabbu of course is estatic, in the north there's always a chance that larvae will pupate into lesser bugs. Because of this, in the north you don't name children until they've pupated. He names her Violet. The people that live in the outskirts know there's some kids rumaging through their stuff and they leave food out. but none of them can get the kids to come anywhere near them. So they put a posting out on the quest board. Of course, eventually Tannin and Muse get sent to investigate reported sightings of young beetle and bee in the outskirts. And they do eventually find Kabbu and Vi. They're both dirty and Kabbu's on the thin side. :(

Kabbu is fiercely protective of Vi. He won't let Tannin or Muse come near, even when they tell him they're explorers and they just want to help. He's terrified they'll take Vi to the hive and he'll never see her again. and he's taken good care of her! She's his little sister, he named her!

(Leif is already looking for a bigger house, Muse has told him all about them.)

Eventually, with lots of patience and lots of re-finding kabbu and vi, Tannin and Muse get the story out of Kabbu. And theyre like, appalled of course jesus christ.

So muse convinces Kabbu to let him and Vi come stay with her and her family while Tannin goes to the Hive to let them know they got cannibals in the city and also there's a little bee girl who was taken from the hive as a larva but she is Very Attached to a beetle who's probably being adopted Right Now. So they will also have to talk custody.

So the bees arrest the cannibals and send some ppl back with Tannin to evaluate Vi.

And at first Vi is fascinated. they're bees! Just like her! But the second she figures out that they want to separate her from Kabbu she FLIPS her SHIT.

She won't leave Kabbu's side. She'll scream and scream and scream.

The bees assert that she in fact, perfectly healthy, if small for her age. Great lungs. they can probably hear her in the hive. she's already lived with this family for a month at this point, and frankly, they dont have the facilities to raise her with the beetle. they'd have to break centuries of tradition and let the beetle inside the hive, or let her live in defiant root/the outer rings of the hive. Neither of which anyone is comfortable with considering someone(s?) have been smuggling children and eggs out of the hive.

so they make they work out a custody agreement with muse and leif. Vi stays with them for most of the year. During the moon of the harvest festival, Vi (and whichever family members escort her) will travel to the golden hills, where there is a decent bee population. She will stay there for one moon, and she will spend her days with the bees there, learning about their culture, how to fly, etc.

So Muse and Leif buy a bigger house. And they get Kabbu fed and comfortable enough that he starts molting and that repairs all the scuffs and cuts on his carapace. and he's a happy chubby little boy again

so NOW we have A HAPPY FAMILY

:DDDDDD

#bug fables #it's free kids au #bug fables spoilers #my art #team snakemouth #au #hoaxe #muse

66 notes · View notes

mythiccheroacademia · 4 years

Text

lov: adoption!au headcanons

mtha thots: it’s a quirkless au (for now) where you adopt the lov when theyre children. kurogiri may or may not be a possible love interest. i’m not sure yet, but that’s not the point. it’s a rough outline of some fluffy stuff and these might not be coherent but i’ve fallen into the suken place and there’s no getting out. also no beta, we die like hot girls

warnings: none

when you first met tenko on the sidewalk, you didn’t know this frightened and anrgy little boy would turn into the most precious thing in your life

he had been on the street for nearly the entire day and you were the first to reach out to him with tenderness in your eyes

he latched onto you and cried his little heart out

and you knew you right then, you couldn’t let this boy go

despite the intial trust, it was a difficult adjustment for you and tenko

his past was a horror story and it would take patience, love, and A LOT of therapy to heal from it, but you never lost hope

but with each soft touch, warm smile, and patient gaze, he grew more relaxed in you presence

when things get better, tenko brightens into this hopeful and giving young boy who wants to help everyone!

he’s also upfront about his thoughts now (bc he feels safe enough to speak his truth) and it shows when you tell him it’s time to put cocoa butter on his skin so it won’t dry up

he’ll stomp around for a second and say, “but i dont wanna!”

but just give him “the look” and he’ll drag his feet over to you

bc yeah youre nice but he knows better than to push it

besides, tenko secretly loves it anyways bc then he feels all warm and soft and you always give him the biggest hugs afterwards so it’s worth it

the first time he called you mama/papa/baba was when he crawled into your bed after a nightmare

before he fell back asleep he whispered, “i love you, ___”

you held him tight and cried the entire night

time goes by and tenko starts going to school

it’s also a difficult adjustment bc he’s a little shy around new people

you figure taking him out to the park for ice cream and to play with other children would help

you turn around for TWO seconds to pay for it and this boy is gone

you all but panic until he reappears with another kid in hand

tenko doesnt let you get a word in before he goes, “mama/papa/baba, this is dabi. he’s 10 and he hates his dad too! can we take him home?”

that’s when you learn that your son had a knack for picking up stray children

and in the end, you end up adopting them bc, well, you fall in love w dabi, then toga, and spinner

just as you did tenko

and a couple of years pass and somehow, you’ve winded up with a quartet of children in your apartment who you’d die for

they all come with their separate issues, quirks, and baggage, but their hearts shine brighter with each day

dabi is a tsundere that scares off bullies and totally DOES NOT like it when you kiss his forehead

toga is basically attached to your hip, like she doesnt walk 40% of the time when youre around

spinner creates huge houses and sculptures on minecraft dedicated in your name and gets super flustered when you make a bg deal out of it even tho he likes it hehe

tenko tries to be “all grown up” around you but aboslutely melts when you hold him and rake your fingers through his hair

it’s all nice but you’ll admit, it’s tough

between working, taking care of them, and holding up the house, you barely sleep

there was one time you came home from work and just collapsed on the couch, 100% knocked out

you wake up the next morning, horrified that you slept for that long

however, you’re delighted to find a blanket over you, a bowl of soup on the table, and all four of your children hapazardly curled up on your chest and legs, fast asleep

you nearly pass out from how cute it was!

somehow someway, the lov (in this au called the league of outcasts lmao) find themselves together

their always over having sleepovers, playing video games, or just gossiping about lame adults

one day, when kurogiri drops off sako, magne, and jin, they see a small blush form on his usually stoic face

and all hell breaks loose

they come up with an ingenous plan to get you two together so they can actually be a real family

im not sure about the details but it’s a lot of “coincidental” meetings

tenko, spinner and jin bring him up a lot to you

magne, toga, and sako try and give kurogiri hints about what you like

dabi “accidentally” tripped you into his arms once

it’s a whole mess

but it might be working???

who knows

but regardless, you all have found solace in one another when at one point, it didn’t seem like you ever would

it came with it’s trials and tribulations but finding tenko was the best thing that couldve happened to you

it led you to your new family

and guess what? they all feel the same way about you

#i can't believe i sat here for almost an hour and wrote this #but it had to be done #bnha headcanons #lov headcanons #adoption!au #this was so self indulgent it's ugly LMAO #THERE'S MORE but i'm sleepy

353 notes · View notes

headphonemouse · 3 years

Text

9/18/2021 drawing liveblog

CHROOOOOMEEEEE

I love looking for reference photos of him because this is always near the top of the search results.

I dont really plan on making anything for this, but I was thinking about family dynamics and how in a lot of modern aus, people make Suika either Senkuu's or Kohaku's little sister. Or if they have a mixed family then she's Kohaku's little sister and Senkuu's step-sister. However, I haven't seen anything about making her Chrome's little sister. To me, those two have the highest sibling energy. Kohaku dotes on her, Senkuu too but to a lesser extent, but Chrome, upon her introduction, scolds her for supposedly stealing his stuff. That's exactly what a bitchy older sibling would do. He treats her like an annoying kid sibling but also gets super excited whenever she does something cool. As Kohaku's little sister, she's really cute, but I feel like she gets boiled down as JUST being cute too much. I think her dynamic with Chrome would be more interesting. And in the current arc, they're being recognized almost as equals. They get along but not in a 'best buds' way. They're totally siblings

AOCJRNFUVH IM SO SORRY

Nice

I'm sorry this is supposed to be about art but I keep getting distracted

I just learned how to toggle the bucket setting to expand the edge of the thingy so that there's no thin layer of uncolored space at the edges. And that there's a "close gaps" setting so I don't have to worry about having perfect lineart before using the bucket. All thanks to a quick coloring tutorial from sabertooth walrus

"Include this area as a selection" makes it easy to recolor lineart. I found out about it the other day and just used it now. Makes clothing folds on dark clothes easy to see

"Oh wow how do you get your thin lines so smooth?" I simply do not breathe.

Done with one character out of three, on page 1 out of 3

It isn't a comic this time. It's a series of fake screenshots, though I'm not gonna try to replicate the dcst art style

Figured out how to add a reference window

Aha. I'm glad this is only a tiny part of the drawing. Surprisingly, I haven't gotten bored yet

My attitude towards making art has gotten so much healthier lately. My intro post says something about how my posts don't warrant the amount of effort I put in, and that's because I'd often think that whatever I was making was pointless. Now I dont really care about that, I'm throwing my all into making this thing because I wanna see what "my all" would be. It doesn't have to be meaningful or successful, I just had to remind myself that I'm doing this for fun. And it is a lot of fun

Done with Senkuu. Moving on

This. Is hard...

Theyre still treating the astronaut lineup like they don't know who's going up so what if Chrome and Suika are hauling ass trying to make the return vessel and they're really brushing up against the deadline when they reveal that Xeno and Stan are going up so Suika and Chrome are all "oh well I guess we don't really need to rush let's take our time with this and just help build another rocket for the rescue mission"

3/3 characters done. Now backgrounds and an extra set of hands

I should probably save the background for tomorrow. For now though, I have a passable meme! The characters are all fully drawn on the screenshot and the punchline is yknow. Within the single picture already. Except I went ahead and looked up where that line came from and came up with two extra screenshots to draw over so that'll take another day. I can PROBABLY finish by tomorrow? If I manage my time

Hmmmmm. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I feel like this isn't testing my skills, as much as it is testing my patience, which I have a lot of. Maybe if I made myself color it it'll be more challenging. Maybe if I didn't have a photo to copy from. Maybe if I drew the background differently, changed the scene. Hmmmmm. I wanna try drawing nature scenes sometime, and experiment in tone values. You can do so much with greytones, and I'm not using that to its full extent

#talking tag #process tag

2 notes · View notes

ask-the-party-god · 4 years

Text

Ask The Party God - Timeline

the pre-terezi-gang timeline post is here

height references over here

hi, im jade! everyones favorite party goddess and trans doggy girl~ but you already know that! if youre reading this, it means youre interested in learning more about my reality, because paradox space is fucking weird like that and you cant really be sure all the time

as far as im aware, everything up to the point where we beat the game happened without deviations from the alpha timeline? so this is what rose has talked about as a ‘terminal timeline’, or ‘post-canon’, or whatever the hell that is supposed to mean

we got to earth-c, and i settled in the troll kingdom because trolls are cool, dave and karkat were in the neighborhood, and the caverns are close by so i can visit rose and kanaya speedily as well! i still do have my old tower out on an island, with my workshop and garden, but i almost never sleep in it, too far away and isolated from everyone...

then one day i found this old active server in the furthest ring keeping tumblr active and i thought, hey, why not have some fun? ;D

as for the others...

my darling sis june egbert! she lives in the consort kingdom, but has been thinking about relocating elsewhere lately! she went through a rough patch right after the game, unsure of what to do and full of all sorts of doubts and questions, but shes doing a lot better nowadays! specially now that terezi is back, shes been a lot more peppy and hanging around with the lalondes particularly!

rose rose rose rose~ happily married to her wife kanaya, duh, but that doesnt make her any less of a flirty cutie! a while back she got really sick for a bit, and weve been keeping an eye on her just in case it happened again, but its been all good ever since! she helps kanaya at the caverns a bunch, which makes her schedule busy busy... and you didnt hear this from me, buuuut words out on the street that she and kanaya may be warming to the idea of having a kid! <3 well see how that goes!

one cool dude~ daves a little bit of a shut-in honestly! and honestly i dont blame him? he must be tired after all the timeline and time travel shenanigans, so he spends a good chunk of his time hanging out in his and karkats house! hes kind of awkward about opening up with feelings and stuff, and ive been trying to nudge him to be more open for a while! but with all the craziness thats been going down lately, and more people coming and going and getting together, hes starting to consider things he hadnt before~ hopefully, some specific someones? ;)

janey! my uh... ecto-mom, technically, although we see each other more like cousins than anything else! she still owns crockercorp, but ever since jasprose has been around, she has been spending a lot more time at home and just hanging out with her friends, which really, sounds a lot healthier than the big business thing she had going on a while back! she enjoys teaching me baking stuff, but doesnt have much patience for my decorating skills ;p

grandpa! and grandson technically, hehe, jakes kind of a weird case, hes a mixture of a shut-in, a celebrity and an adventurer! he can spend up to weeks at a time without leaving his manor, but then hell have full weeks of interviews and hiking, and thats not to say anything of when he and dirk put out another episode or two of their dumb comedy talkshow... hes often busy with stuff, but hes still a good pal and can clear his schedule in seconds if we need him for something!

one sweet nb dude! rox really is... something else, really! fun to tag along at a party, fun to chill at home playing games, fun to talk about more serious stuff and open up with him, he really is just solid as they come! hes been hanging out a lot more with june since she got out of her depressive slump, but sometimes i wonder if junebug finds weird to get flirty with roxy, considering im pretty sure we made out in front of her at some point or two... hehehe

dirk! if daves a bit of a shut-in, hes a shut-in times two, which is weird because youd think someone stuck in post-apocalyptic earth for so long would want to hang out more? not to say he DOESNT, though! hes around jake often enough, and keeps close to jane, roxy and dave specially! we dont see each other too often, but we HAVE been messing around with robots and planning out to upgrade our respective self-bots for funsies!

aradia! we only met briefly in dreams for the longest time, but i knew already that she was a riot! she came with terezis group after she finally found vriska, and seems pretty happy just... kind of... being around and watching shenanigans ensue! i actually dont know where she lives, but she drops by occasionally, because im apparently pretty ‘fun’... cant say i disagree ;)

sollux is blind, and not dead, and WILL kick you in the shins if you keep prying about how exactly he ended up like that, which is fair enough! he spends a good chunk of his time with aradia, and im not sure if theyre dating or not...? but hes been around the other trolls a bunch! specially kanaya, apparently theyre good friends that go way back! i guess they both DO style their hair similarly, with the side spike thingies...

the other half of the dave-kat duo! swooooon~ really though, i cant remember the last time i said “dave” or “karkat” without talking about the other shortly after... buuut theyre just roomies, and hell get awkward and grumpy if you even so slightly IMPLY otherwise, despite the fact everyone knows they fall asleep leaning against each other during friday movie night! roooolling my eyes~ with the rest of the living trolls having arrived, hes been a lot more willing to go outside, which im glad for! its healthy to get some fresh air from time to time, and specially hang out with friends!

oh-la-la, miss maryam-lalonde herself! kanayas the matriarch of the caverns, and quite the busy gal, having taken it upon herself to supervise her entire species reproduction and well-being... in my opinion, she needs a good vacation from time to time, and to be less of a workaholic! >:o ive been helping her occasionally in the caverns, and as of late weve begun trying to mess around with ectobiology for some troll-human crossing experiments with... not good results so far... but hey, rome wasnt built in a day!

terezis back, yes! after spending YEARS out there looking for vriska, she managed to find her and come back, the madwoman! personally im not sure why anyone would go to such lengths for... her... but also, its not my bond, not my place to speak, she obviously really loves her a bunch! with vriska no longer lost in the middle of the furthest ring, shes started to catch up with everything going on with earth-c, and i think shes really going to like being around! specially with how much june and the rest have missed her ;)

troublemaker extraordinaire herself! shes... well, shes vriska, im pretty sure she stole that eyepatch from sollux? so you just know she up to no good already >:/ speaking of her eyepatch, im not sure WHY shes wearing it? whatever kinda wound she got, she doesnt like mentioning it, despite bragging about defeating english at every chance she gets! terezi says they found her popping in and out of consciousness in the furthest ring with some messy wounds, and that shed probably been hovering out there after the fight for years... doesnt seem to have humbled her in the slightest <.<

callieeeee! theyre super sweet and wonderful but also really shy and awkward! they live with roxy but manage to outdo dirk in terms of shut-in-ness... they also totally like roxy but is unsure about approaching those feelings considering the whole species thing and whatever, ive been trying to get them to open up for a while now! weve written fanfic together and drawn grids, so i can definitely tell theres some attraction there, even if theyre afraid of acting upon it just yet <3

jaspie is roses bane, and the one cat that made me get used to their smell enough that i dont bark at them instantly anymore! im pretty sure she crashes at janes often, and is just as outgoing and flirty as i am around earth-c parties and bars, which is saying something honestly! i wont let her dethrone me as the party god, though >:)

and finally davepeta! theyre staying with june for the time being until they can get settled around and see what they want to do here! theyve also dropped by dave and karkats a bunch, which i most certainly dont mind! i definitely appreciate some help in bringing a romantic vibe into those twos lives~ ;o

and thats about it! theres also the nannasprites and tavrosprite and arquius, but they pop by so sporadically and rarely that i dont know what theyre doing a majority of the time... we lost track of gamzee after the session so hopefully hes totally gone, and we havent heard any message from caliborn in years... and with the furthest ring broken and the black hole sealed, leaving a weird white empty space right in the middle of reality, im not sure what our chances of bringing back the other trolls are :( but still, we keep living on happily over here and having our fun slice of life ending together!

id say after everything weve gone through, we deserve a big break, dont we? hehehe <3

also, particularly important events that happen and are recorded in this blog will be tagged as timeline shenanigans!

17 notes · View notes

normal-thoughts-official · 5 years

Note

Ok a more specific prompt, coffee shop au with Malec and claia 😌

this is nowhere near specific and you damn well know it, anon. i appreciate u trying to find an excuse to throw coffee shop aus everywhere, tho. keep doing the lord's work even if i will inevitably twist the prompt

Magnus works at a small, local coffee shop as a barista. It's not exactly his #1 job choice, but it pays better than big chain coffee shops and he needs that to pay rent now that he officially left his abusive father's home for good. Also, he is kind of a coffee enthusiast and the owner, Ragnor, lets him go wild with making up new drinks and ingredients, as long as he still does his job.

All in all it's a good job and he considers the old fart and the other barista, maia, to be like family. Ragnor frequently gives them coffee and Maia constantly teases him about being a "coffee scientist" whenever she catches him thoughtfully drinking from a cup and scribbling notes on his notepad, like some ancient being

His recipes are good, though, and he knows exactly where to get the best coffee beans for the best price. So their drinks are good, affordable, and can please everyone from the traditional "black coffee no sugar" exec to the teenager who wants more of a milkshake than actual coffee

As a result, the shop thrives, gets more popular, and gets more clients. So Ragnor decides to hire a new barista to help. Because he's secretly a sweetheart, he ends up hiring this broke college kid who just moved into town to get away from his kinda toxic family and has nowhere to go - and also doesnt have a single ounce of experience as a barista

It's not surprising; both Magnus and Maia share similar stories, with some abusive exes to spice up the mix, not to mention racism, biphobia, and, in Magnus case, male behavior standarts keeping most opportunities closed for them. So they're cool with that. Even if it means Magnus will have to be the one to teach him, because 1- Ragnor is a dick and assigned him to be Alec's special "tutor" as retribution for Magnus calling him "an old, heart of butter bastard"; 2- he's the one who's best qualified to teach him since he knows a lot about coffee and coffee making anyway; 3- Maia has no patience

Quick detour just to say that i love the maia/magnus brotp opportunities this gives. While Magnus is more of a coffee scientist as she puts it, Maia has an almost instictive understanding of drink making. Where Magnus is soft, she's fierce, and they make one hell of a team and are good at balancing one another. They bond over their experiences with abuse; while Magnus' has made him afraid to put his foot down and say what he wants and prioritize himself, Maia's has made her particularly wary of people and even less willing to take anyone's bullshit, and both of these coping mechanisms have their own effects on their psyche, and they're able to talk openly to each other about it. Maia is kind of protective of Magnus and vice-versa, though the way they protect each other is very different. They have an easy companionship and bantering dynamic that's easygoing and cute, theyre both passionate about their interests (Maia loves marine biology and even if Magnus doesnt know much about it he loves listening to her talk about it) and just generally have that kind of relationship where just smiling at each other makes a tough day seem lighter. Also Magnus loves making Maia laugh. Maia blatantly refuses to laugh at any of his self-deprecating jokes, tho, which has considerably diminished the amount of times he makes them

Anyway Alec comes in for his first day and Magnus is like [REDACTED] because shit this man is cute. Maia notices immediately and from then on the teasing doesn't stop

He's quick to recover, tho, and suddenly he's all smooth again (Maia says he's perfected his customer service persona to horror movie levels), quick to introduce himself and Maia to Alec and explain that he'll be training Alec for the next few weeks or so. He gives him a tour of the shop, explains the basics, and immediately launches into his slightly extra More Serious Than Strictly Necessary course on the makings and workings of coffee, from bean selection to ideal temperature and the chemistry behind the cooking.

This absolute dork even had a small table with some coffee made from different kinds of beans so Alec could taste them and learn the difference and Engage with the profession or some shit

Maia just rolls her eyes, thankful that she had prior experience before getting this job and didnt have to go through this

The first thing he learns about Alec: Alec doesn't like coffee. This is not a setback. Many people dont like coffee, but that's because they're used to regular powdered coffee instead of making it from the bean. Because the beans in powdered coffee arent previously selected, they are roasted harder than they should, so any beans that might have gone bad wont spoil the taste or make you sick. As a result, the coffee is way too bitter and doesn't have a discernible taste. He explains all of this enthusiastically to a slightly overwhelmed Alec, and gets on to making him try the samples so he can feel the difference.

Here's the second thing he learns about Alec: Alec doesn't feel the difference

Despair. Horror. Offense.

Alec even kind of chuckles and goes "sorry" at the face he makes, and a not-pouting Magnus goes on with the planned explanation on bean selection

Third thing he learns about Alec: he's a quick study. Everything he lacks in sensibility to the amazing world of bean juice, he makes up for in his careful attentiveness to the instructions. He is also a strict recipe-follower and makes sure he always uses the exact amounts required. He's an absolute perfectionist. He listens to Magnus' explanations on how to know if the taste is right, to look for color and texture of the mix. Magnus tries his simple coffees and only needs a few corrections to send him on the right path

The first time Alec makes him something more complicated to try (per his request) Magnus wants to die

It's so good

Scratch that, it's perfect

This soulless motherfucker doesn't even like coffee and this is the single best version of whatever crazy frapuccino shit they're making magnus has ever tried

He kind of bursts from the kitchen (?) all like MAIA YOU HAVE TO TRY THIS just in time to interrupt her chatting with this redhead new customer with shiny eyes. Maia is leaning all the way across the counter. What is this

Maia agrees that it's very good but again he's not as passionate about coffee and Magnus just interrupted what would have been a really smooth number-giving move so she's not feeling all that generous

Alec just laughs at that. His eyes are shining with amusement and he's very, very pleased that Magnus likes his stuff

It's not a big secret, really; mixing drinks is kind of like patisserie in the sense that the measures need to be exact to achieve the best taste and texture. He follows the recipe to a fault, it turns out good. That's why he's better at the more complicated, instagram-y drinks than the simple coffee types

Alec "graduates" his training pretty soon after that and Ragnor is very pleased

He gets along well with both Magnus and Maia, even if he's more quiet and sometimes catches himself just laughing at the two of them interact; their friendship is something else. But he also gets to hear a "shut up" from Maia after not saying absolutely anything when the redhead walks in again the very next day

The redhead always comes in a little late in the morning, so its always slow. As a result, they get to pretend to be minding their own business as they hear the two of them chat and oof is the romantic tension between them something. Maia glares at them once the girl - Clary - leaves every time, but it doesn't stop them

Soon Maia is calling them "no-good gossiping grandmas" because of the way Magnus and Alec will go to the back and pretend to be making something while they keep a whispered running commentary on what the girls are talking about. This quickly turns into some sort of race to see who can make the other break and laugh out loud. Neither of them ever do (they are trying to be discreet and Maia would kill them) but oftentimes they need to cover their mouths with their hands and playfully slap each other for the teasing

Clary doesn't even realize she's the reason; she kind of just thinks they are constantly flirting on the back and briefly wonders how they havent been fired when all they do is whisper and make eyes at each other

Not that she has any room to talk when she's late to work everyday because she keeps cracking jokes with the cute curly haired barista with the most beautiful lopsided smile who always makes her laugh and tells her about her day while she drinks her coffee. She's lucky her work starts at 10 so she can go in a little later and doesnt have to be there during rush hours, but still

She doesnt even like coffee, she walked in one day cuz she was really tired and then just kept coming in the hopes that the barista would make a move on her (shes not gonna do it herself, at least not in her workplace. She doesn't want to make her uncomfortable and it's still unclear whether the girl is flirting or if shes just really nice)

At some point she and Maia even start sharing knowing looks to Alec and Magnus and laughing at them. They don't even notice, because their designated Making Fun Of Maia time turned into just cracking jokes at each other way too quickly. They don't even remember there are other people there

Maia does finally ask clary out eventually. She wasn't exactly nervous about doing it, it's more that she enjoyed their little routine. But enough is enough, and when their routine starts involving Clary giving her a quick kiss before placing her order, well, it just makes it better

Magnus and Alec coo every time

Eventually Maia snaps all like "why are you guys the one poking fun at me when im the one who made a move instead of being a coward"

Magnus is all like "Whatever could she possibly mean??"

It dawns on him when hes closing up the next day and Alec has already left. He has a crush on Alec. Oh god. Oh fuck

Maia helpfully says "idiot" and leaves

Some Magnus being very nervous and overthinking his relationship with Alec who's all like ???????? about this

Alec goes to his sister about his new crush who suddenly started acting weird and izzy is all like "stop trying to guess what he's thinking because you're terrible at this. Just tell them how you feel" and Alec is like okay

He asks Magnus out

Everyone is happy and gay idk the end

✨ feel free to use this and any other one of my posts as a prompt ✨

#ask #anonymous #sh #shadowhunters #maia roberts #magnus bane #ragnor fell #alec lightwood #clary fray #clary fairchild #malec #izzy lightwood #lightwood siblings #claia #long post #brotp: never trust a stingy warlock *gives u 100 dollars*

43 notes · View notes

sparklypunk · 5 years

Text

Looking at how I was raised really puts into perspective as to why im so messed up inside. And there's no way to tell ur parents (the ones u kinda trust but do love) because they were part of the problem. And so many ppl have a hard time just admitting when theyre wrong. So ur stuck not really caring about ur life but know they care about YOUR life just not enough to help you get help because some part of them knows that would mean they would have to get help as well. How you raise your child is so important. What situtations they go thru is so important. That developing brain can affect them for the rest of their lives if they dont get help right away or learn thru a hassle of a process that change is possible but it is slow and not linear or easy. A child shouldnt be threatening to kill themselves, a child shouldnt be afraid to be themselves. Parents dont want to know they've failed, when to them its so much easier to blame it on a child who just "doesnt understand". Then the child becomes an adult and those problems never go away they just get categorized, labeled, and suppressed. Still not knowing how to get help because the anxieties and trauma from childhood has never been properly dealt with. Having parents who put all their troubles onto you, their displeasure and lose of hope shoved thru and thru till its all you know "this world doesnt want you as is, they want you to be a perfect version of yourself. The world doesnt provide for you, you work till you cry to provide for your family. Because thats what we do to survive" well congrats I stopped caring. I went through the motions of life. Doing as i was told. Subservient pretty little do good shy girl. Then what? Go to college? Work, Marriage, kids, family? Repeat that suffering to serve in a society run by greed? I lost so much time to depression because the family i was raised in had it to but they never learned from it, they just shoved it down and down each generation. That isnt living. Thats just making sure ur family line stays alive for what reason? Because thats how its always been? And how does change happen? By being that change you want to see. I have spent so much of my god damn life angry. Angry at the world at people, at the injustices because ppl have the most stupid ego complexes from never dealing with their childhood traumas. Depression is crippling. Trauma is crippling. Everyone deserves help. Everyone needs help. But peoplr wont change unless they learn theyre allowed to change.. It is never to late to make positive improvements in our life. To find those things that make life worth striving for. I'm tired of parents being upset at "their problematic child" when its their fault to begin with. As much as it feels good to blame someone else for my errors in life, I also know that this is MY life, and being and adult means i get to be in the driver seat of my life. And with much time and patience and self reflection and learning to understand my brain & behaviors, i know I will make a difference in my life. As much as i wish I just got help sooner, that isnt the case. Im in this moment now, and now I want to see myself glow into a person I would want my younger self to look up to

#long post #personal #depression #this was justa long rant thats been troubling my mind #ive been trying to like.. reprogram my subconscious to stray away from my immediate negative impulse thoughts #like my conscious mind knows one thing but my subsconsious plays out the same traumas because ive never properly dealy with them #ive wanted therapy so many times #but my parents made it seem like it was too expensive and not somrthing i really needed if i couldnt make the call myself

6 notes · View notes

teddy-feathers · 5 years

Text

it is so gosh darn hard to be positive.

i dont mean...

i mean kind. to yourself.

especially when things are going hard

or youre messing up

or you failed something...

someone

yourself.

but thats when you need it most

youre never going to ask for help

or work to get better

or grow

if all you ever do is punish yourself or cut your self down or try and kill parts of yourself off.

lets be real

every study keeps coming back saying "HEY negative reinforcement is BAD actually and doesn't WORK on kids"

so why would it work on adults?

my aunt keeps using this phrase agaisnt me "it doesnt matter what i say or anyone says, youll just do what you want anyways"

and while its to make me feel like shit, she IS actually right

if you keep coming back to something/ struggling with something DESPITE the consequences - self imposed or otherwise- then the world is right - "the problem isnt the problem your attitude about the peoblem is the problem"

look i get it. i so get feeling bad for things and you keep making the same mistakes and its this whole spiral that NEVER seems to get better

but let me tell you it DOES

it does when you stop treating yourself like shit

it does when you treat yourself with kidness and patience and let yourself have dignity and validation and learn to accept you DESERVE that

it doesnt FIX shit not by a long shot but

its pretty hard for you to find new ways to do something if youre breaking yourself into tiny pieces everytime something goes wrong ESPECIALLY when EVERYTHING seems tongo wrong ALL of the time

its hard for things to get better when you cant make them better

making your life better starts with self improvement which

... it costs a lot i know.

time money resources you dont have doing x needs y but to get y you have to have x and-

its a MESS i know

but little things you CAN do like forgive yourself and talk nicer to yourself and basic shit like that helps so damn much get you to where you need to be to get better

i am NOT okay right now though i thought i was

things are not good and it feels like the same shit and my aunt would... say a lot of things im already in the habit of telling myself because it seems the same

but. things are better. even if theyre not where i want and need them to be just yet. even if i did this. even if i feel this.

things will continue getting better if I don't get up even if its hard or itd be easier if i was where i thoight i was or where i think i should be

there is no should be

there is yourself and maybe you dont WANT to deal with some things but you CAN... and you dont HAVE to in a lot of cases

and i think.. this is what hope is.

its not wishing for things to get better or betting on luck or chance and ive NEVER understood those who think hope is VALUE LESS when

theres no point to continuing on without hope.

everything IS terrible all of the time for me but it doesn't HAVE to be and someday it WONT be

and yeah in so many ways youre going to have to do it all om your own having nothing

and success seems impossible but

im not asking for success yet

im just asking myself to be kind to myself and help myself with my hardships, self inflicted though they may be, instead of beating myself up or giving up on myself

im asking for patience with myself and permission to fail and make mistakes and ne horrible because I don't know how to do anything else YET

I'm just asking myself to let myself learn and try and take ownership of myself along the way instead of pointing out all my flaws or trying to cut the "bad parts" out

its hard i know it is

and it seems pointless because it doesn't change anything but it does

it changed you and how you handle yourself which will change how you handle other things and

maybe that wont change anything but its got a better chance then salting the ground again.

3 notes · View notes

corvidshipping · 2 years

Note

Howdy Red! I wanted to come ask does Eddie ever get a tattoo too? Like do he and Rosie ever go get some at the same time to just hang out & be there for each other in case it's painful? :o

Moxie @tex-treasures

Congrats Moxie! Youve Unlocked A Thing I Have Been Dying To Talk About But Couldnt Find A Way To Mention It Even Though I Didnt Really Need An Excuse To Talk About It, But This Gives Me A Perfect Time To Bring It Up! i will now proceed to not be normal

so the two tattoos rosie already has (the cowboy skull and the bull+snake) were actually sticknpokes they got when they were staying in california for the funfair when they were about 16. they got them from a guy they kinda-knew and hung around a lot but wasnt really a friend, named fuzz. actually the group they hung around called him fuzzy wuzzy, bc he was always trying to grow this beard, but he never managed to get anything more than a light fuzz on his chin, and it just got shortened to fuzz over time. theyre kind of attached to the idea of getting sticknpokes - when they first got them it was kind of more an act of opportunity, cause no artist in their right skull was gonna tattoo a sixteen year old, especially not one whos the kid of the gigantic mean looking carnival ride operator who looks like he can snap you in half with one hand - so they got them manually done by another teenager who was distinctly not in his right skull. but now theyre attached to the concept bc its a bit unorthodox and to them somehow seems more intimate - like you have to do a lot more work for it, it takes more time, it takes a steady hand to get right (and tbh it can be more painful to do, depending).

eddie definitely tries to encourage them to get more i think but like i said, theyre very attached to the idea of the sticknpoke, so he really has a hard time persuading them because... the thing abt them is that what they lack in being confrontational they more than make up for in stubbornness. once their mind is made up about something they dig their heels in and trying to convince them otherwise is like moving a goddamn mountain, and the worst part is theyre just so placid about it bc they know they have the patience to out-stubborn just about anyone except their mother. theyve definitely gone with him for a few tattoos, theyre on good terms w his artist and maybe theyve helped him pick a few (more just "hey rosie do you like this design" than like, finding one for him lol) but they just have no interest in the tattoo guns lol.

i think maybe eddie possibly started learning how to do sticknpokes on the down-low though. i dont know that hed ever admit that he did it FOR them, but yanno. its his best friend and if his best friend wants another tattoo, might as well get it from someone he knows they can trust, right? (the quality might be questionable though. but he is practicing on lemons.)

#paperheart.txt #does any of this make sense lmao i m experiencing so much neuro dive urgency rn #s/i: rosie eriksen #ty for sending moxie !!!!!!!!!!!#tex-treasures #s: roll for relationship

1 note · View note

simple-ponderings · 4 years

Text

10/20/20

Some guidance

Queen of cups, 8 of pents, the magician rx, queen of swords rx

Im seeing theres a disconnect between the mind and heart. I have to work on integrating the two so I can properly wield my power. And this is more so how to focus my energy and direction for things in my life. What I want to do/become. My mind isnt aligned with my heart and honestly this has been going on for sometime. Its like I keep creating/running into these blocks of self sabotage or something like that. That makes me feel as if Ill always be stuck lol. Or like those things I want are too great for me to achieve and obtain and that Im not good enough for those things? As if I couldnt handle them. And its those subliminal beliefs that keep getting me into these ruts. I need to mend them. Patience is needed too. Those disturbing images are a manifestation of my fears. Its like a creak or open hole they slither their way in and feed on it. And in the end it all goes back to me and my ability to fight it. Dispel it. Rewire it.

Literally just asked how can I move forward and the 6 of swords fell right on top of Queen of Cups upright hahaha.

Put my energy into nuturing myself with love and tenderness. Remember those qualities about myself. What do I love about myself? What amazing qualities do I have? And once I ask myself these questions I can begin to accept myself and all the gifts I have even more. There is Love all around! I just have to be willing to see it.

I embody love and that love extends from me to all over.

But I have to be the one to create it.

My mind keeps fighting with my heart. Its like im allowing my mind to utilize my energy for bad? What Im seeing here is my thoughts being in disarray which in turn causes my vibration- energy, to change, and not for the best. Its like its creating false judgements, false narratives, things that arent true.

What are the blockages?

4 of Pents, 8 of Wands, knight of pents

I think its saying I have alot of energy and ideas for the future. And theyre able to take root. But they will take time. I have to take my time with it, offer dedication and commitment. But my problem is that I like things fast and want it to happen right now! Im impatient and thats ok. But it wont do me any good to keep condoning that behavior. My energy is very "!!!!!!!!!" And enthusiastic, but I need to work on grounding it and reigning it in so I can focus it properly. Its like my energy is erratic hyper kids and theres a mom trying to calm them down. Its subtle but its affects me greatly.

Try to enjoy things in your life. Try not to think of everything so hard! Like yes there are lessons you have to learn but like...enjoy it! Im just seeing theres an emptiness here. Like your love of life is gone and your trying to find meaning, but maybe thats been the whole problem all this time. Trying to always find meaning in everything you do. And yeah its a good motivator but at this point its causing me stress. I feel as if this feeling is a whole redirection for you. To lead you back to somewhere. Maybe yourself. Again lol. And yes there is another lesson! But like I said before stop stressing about the lessons themselves and just enjoy yourself. Teach yourself to enjoy things because it makes your spirit happy. Not because its what it seems you need to do or an action you need to take. Do things because it genuinely makes yoh happy. And if you dont know. Maybe this is a good time to start exploring.

#hermetic tarot

0 notes

blackwomenconfessions · 7 years

Text

C: My mom expects me to babysit my siblings when she’s here AND when she’s gone. I get that she’s aging almost 40, works in retail, and shes too tired to do anything most days but its suffocating to me as well. Today she got mad at me because my little brother got into some cheese she was going to use for dinner and i didnt see him. Long story short, shes too tired to raise my siblings directly and heavily relies on me to supervise them in the way a parent would.

More recently i’ve come to suspect that she didn’t want to have kids when she did and it shows. The signs have always been there, but im only now seeing it. She takes responsibility for her choices but she does nothing about her resentment for having kids early seeping into the way she talks to and treats of us.

On top of that, my older brother whose 21 lives here too but is too selfish for anyone to rely on so it’s just unspoken that nobody can count on him, which makes me take on the load that could have been divided between me and my older brother if he wasnt a selfish irresponsible manchild like the father he and I share.

She coddles him and makes threats she never follows through on but doesn’t want to kick him out because shes afraid of what’s to become of him. He couldn’t care less about what happens to anyone else besides himself and has shown her that for years but yet and still, she stans so hard for him. He couldn’t give a shit if there’s no food in the house, as long as he’s eating. He’s also disrespectful, socially unconscious, misogynistic and trash. I think it’s just time for her to let him go. You can’t help someone who don’t want to be helped or at least show appreciation FOR your help. Some people need to learn lessons the hard way and her protecting him from learning those lessons is harming him more than she thinks it’s helping. But she defends herself by saying that “black families dont stick together” and that “were all we’ve got in this world” and I understand that, but he’s not trying to help anybody, he thinks he can step on everyone’s toes and that everyone is not supposed to say anything about it. There has to be a line drawn when you cut people you love out of your life because they’re harming you; no matter how much you hope they get better. He’s not trying to improve our situation. He’s being part of the problem and he does not care. He does not act like he wants go be a contributing member of this family.

You KNOW you’re trash when people who want to see you do better stop wanting to help you.

I see my mom as one of those black mothers who could have stopped a trash black man from becoming trash; but somehow was not able to. She tried her best to raise us right but idk. She used to be emotionally/psychologically and physically abusive up until I was 14 but shes stopped being physically and psychologically abusive since. She spoiled me and my older brother with buying us stuff she never had as a kid as a replacement for her having a personal relationship with us. She didn’t try to form a relationship with any of us. None of us have a close intimate relationship with her. I have the closest relationship with her and even i see her as a semi stranger, an acquaintance. Like a much older room mate who pays the bills. I see my relationship with my mom as two black women who sees eachothers struggles and helps eachothers when they can and relies on eachothers for different things because we both know how hard it is to be a black woman. She helps me and I help her. Which contributes to why I think she didnt want kids when she had us.

I witness the emotional abuse she inflicts on my little sister that she used to do to me. I want to help my sis but I just…dont know how. I know how she feels and I feel like I should speak up for her like I wanted someone to speak up for me when I was a kid. She was just like me as a kid. I was really emotionally sensitive and my mom was not and I use to cry really easily from my moms meanness and insensitivity. Now that im older and grew out of that I just see my moms side better. She doesn’t have enough patience to monitor how she talks to us and think about if something she said was too mean or insensitive. She doesn’t have the patience, to my little sisters detriment. But another side of me doesn’t stop it because my little sister doesn’t obey me like my mom raised me to obey her while im expected to be a live in nanny. My mom raised me so rigidly with whoopings with a belt if I misunderstood something she told me to do or if I did something normal for kids to do but she didnt have the patience for. And it annoys me that my younger sister gets away with so much that I would never have at her age. I think that’s why I dont speak up for her and I know its wrong but I think in the end, the biggest problem is that my mom is someone who shouldnt have had kids. Not everyone should have kids just because theyre physically able to and my mom is one of them. Some people just dont have the emotional capacity it requires to raise mentally and emotionally healthy children and my mom is just one of those people. She wants the best for us i know and would die for us absolutely but that’s not enough in order to have a happy home as single parent with four kids each with their own specific emotional needs and some who are special needs and another with mental illness, especially since she doesn’t have the patience and energy to cater to all of our needs effectively.

#black women confessions #black women #family #parents #siblings

87 notes · View notes

escapinglight · 8 years

Text

Allllrighty, before I go to sleep, I need to get some anger and pain off of my chest. This past year one of my irl friends has been ranting to me and another irl friend about how horrible her life is and how much she hates it. Granted all the reasons shes given are understandable and I feel for her. However, this friend also complains a lot about how she doesn’t care about her other irl friends problems and that she doesn’t have the time or patience for them.

One of the problems being “they’re both skinny and beautiful so they dont have a right to feel insecure about their bodies cuz Im fat and they never had to deal with the pain Ive dealt with” while the latter is true that does not mean theyre both not gonna have problems anyway.

Ive also learned that this irl friend also talks about me behind my back to our shared irl friend.

How Im too liberal, loud, annoying, and Im mostly annoying because I complain about being lonely a lot when neither of them are around and how Im skinny and why dont I just date? Basically saying I could have anybody I want cuz Im skinny.

And you know, shes probably right, if I actually went and tried I could probably have anybody I want cuz I can be really pretty and have been told Im a wonderful person to be around.

However

This isnt going to happen anytime soon.

Now I know that I could never equate my body issues to a fat person body issues. i know that the world doesnt automatically label me as ugly cuz I am not fat. I know I have a stereotypical beautiful skinny body.

THIS DOES NOT CHANGE THE FIRST 18 YEARS OF MY LIFE.

I was constantly made fun of and bullied, mostly by guys, because I did not fit the mold mentally and didnt dress the way the other kids did.

NEVER ONCE did I have someone express interest in me romantically or in a healthy way because to everybody I was a freak for the things I enjoyed.

THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO ACT OPENLY ATTRACTED TO ME ARE FUCKING STALKERS OR PEOPLE WHO JUST WANNA FUCK ME.

DO YOU KNOW HOW LITTLE I TRUST PEOPLE TO LET THEM IN LIKE THAT AFTER 18+ YEARS OF EXPERIENCING THIS?!?

HELL NO AM I GONNA LET ANYONE NEAR ME LIKE THAT cuz the first thing that comes to my mind is that they have ulterior motives. The ONLY thing I can think is that

“That cute person who looked at you and smiled only did that cuz youre a freak”

“This guy is only bein nice cuz he wants to get in your pants”

“These people who say they love you and want to support you only keep you around so they can get dirt on you, spread rumors, and laugh about you behind your back”

YES I AM NOT FAT YES I WILL NOT EVER EXPERIENCE THE ATROCITIES THAT FAT PEOPLE EXPERIENCE

Yes I am still going to be fucking insecure because I was mistreated for the developing years of my life by my peers anyway.

This is why I dont talk to her about any of my problems cuz I know shes just gonna complain about me behind my back.

Im getting tired and if I hear shes been talking about me again instead of actually confronting me about it I will end this friendship and she will cry and complain but I ust wont care anymore

#long post #negative #body image

2 notes · View notes

lucyariablog · 6 years

Text

16 More Quotes to Inspire Your Content Marketing

In 2017, I shared a compilation of 23 inspirational quotes, from Rachael Ray to Ann Handley to Andy Weir and many people in between. Each of those quotes continues to inspire me and impact the way I think about content marketing

Today, to kick off the new year, the CMI editorial team asked me to share some more quotes.

I’ve been a quote junkie since I was a kid. Some of the quotes I’ve included this year I picked up recently. Others came from the dog-eared journal I started in 1993, which includes gems like this one:

Embarrassing? Absolutely. But …

My hope is that you pick up some inspiration from these quotes or think about familiar ideas in a new way.

Maintain your energy

Much of the work we need to do as marketers – and, more importantly, as makers – requires us to think and create. And, quite frankly, there is only so much time we can meaningfully write, develop, or create day in, day out.

Michael Simmons captures the idea perfectly in his article aptly titled An Ambitious Person’s Brutally Honest Take On Work-Life Balance:

“In the world of long-distance running, the idea of someone starting off a race by sprinting as fast as they can until they collapse from exhaustion is obviously stupid. Yet, when it comes to our careers, many of us follow this mentality.

Expert marathoners, on the other hand, purposely run slower than their full potential so they can run longer and actually win the race.

We need to redefine hard work from how many hours we work in a week (the equivalent of our sprinting speed) to how consistently hard we work over a long period of time.”

And, speaking of marathons, we often hear how content marketing is a marathon, not a sprint, and many articles reference 18 to 24 months as the time frame to build a brand with content marketing. But in the last few years, things have gotten more difficult, and, as Mark W. Schaefer observes, the journey requires more time:

What I determined was that it took, on average, between two and three years for a personal brand to really ignite. Two and half years. Wow. That’s 30 months of patience.

On average, it takes 2-3 years for a personal brand to ignite, says @markwschaefer. #quotes Click To Tweet

Maintaining focus is tough, especially when the work required will take months, if not years. But, this insight from Entrepreneur Editor in Chief Jason Feifer plays in mind to help me stay on track:

I don’t want to work nonstop – that only ends in burnout – but I want to make sure I’m using my time as wisely as possible. So I started measuring time in terms of outcome. I’d ask myself, ‘What do I get for this hour spent? What can I show for it later?’ … There may never be time for everything, but there is always time for plenty. It’s just a question of priorities.

There may never be time for everything, but there is always time for plenty, says @heyfeifer. #quotes Click To Tweet

While maintaining that focus is an ongoing journey (ahem, struggle), the best thing to get me back on track is unadulterated, pure quiet. I emphasized this idea in my previous quote post, and it’s why I was so mesmerized by this quote from Zen master Ryutan:

You are like this cup; you are full of ideas. You come and ask for teaching, but your cup is full; I can’t put anything in. Before I can teach you, you’ll have to empty your cup.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:

7 Productivity Killers for Marketers and How to Fix Them

How to Brainstorm and Prioritize Your Best Content Ideas

Do, don’t (over)think

Like many marketers, I love coming up with ideas and starting projects, but I can burn out as the project slogs on. But these next quotes remind me that the actual doing (not the thinking about doing) are most important.

You’d be hard pressed to come up with an idea so bad that it couldn’t succeed with the right execution. And it would be even harder to imagine a great idea that couldn’t fail if the execution were left to morons. Ideas are worthless. Execution is everything. – Scott Adams, Dilbert creator

Ideas are worthless. Execution is everything. @Dilbert_Daily #quotes Click To Tweet

You are not a leader because you have better insight – you are a leader because you make decisions. – David C. Baker, The Business of Expertise

Embrace constraints

Too often we bemoan lack of time or lack of budget or lack of (insert your gripe here). But sometimes, it’s these very constraints that help us focus.

Here’s a fact: Creativity comes easier within constraints … Constraints make the haiku one of the world’s most moving poetic forms. They give us boundaries that direct our focus and allow us to be more creative. This is, coincidentally, why tiny startup companies frequently come up with breakthrough ideas. They start with so few resources that they’re forced to come up with simplifying solutions. – Shane Snow, Smartcuts

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: The 3 Behaviors Driving the Most Creative Content Marketers

Connect with the (right) people

Another thing that keeps me energized is working with people who challenge me – and whom I enjoy. I have been proactively reaching out to marketers and business owners this year, and while not every conversation has an action, I always learn something new. (And, thus far, everyone has agreed to talk.)

Working with people who challenge me energizes me and my work, says @MicheleLinn. Click To Tweet

Allen Gannett expresses this idea clearly in this quote from his book The Creative Curve (I recommend it):

The point is, don’t wait for someone to take you under their wing; initiate the process yourself. If you meet someone who is successful in a field you want to learn about, approach them. Be curious. Be relentless!

Don’t wait for someone to take you under their wing; initiate the process yourself, says @Allen. #quotes Click To Tweet

My business partner, Clare McDermott, and I often talk about the value of “creative abrasion.” I always look to work with people who ask questions, poke holes in my thinking, or otherwise give me a new perspective. While too much friction isn’t a good thing, embrace what Allen calls the conflicting collaborator:

For this reason, I call the ideal person to work with a conflicting collaborator. Basically, you don’t want to collaborate with someone who is so easy to get along with that they don’t push you. The goal is to find a person who will help you discover and overcome your flaws.

Here’s another reminder why it’s critical to embrace other perspectives:

Our senses are limited therefore our view of the world is limited. This is not a problem unless we start believing that what we perceive is all there is to be perceived. – Peter McWilliams, self-help author

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: The Secret to Hitting the Creative Sweet Spot

Embrace your own path

One of the drums beating loudly this year is eschewing best practices and forging our own paths (and the more varied perspectives you have, the better).

As such, I can’t help but be reminded of this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson. (Did anyone else go through a transcendentalist phase in high school? Just me? My quote book is littered with ideas from Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.):

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail, says #RalphWaldoEmerson via @MicheleLinn. #quotes Click To Tweet

Taking your own path also means having a point of view, which Meera Kothand summarizes in her book, Your First 100. (Meera is a new-to-me content marketer I stumbled upon this year. I’ve really enjoyed her action-oriented emails and books):

Value doesn’t come from feeding your audience with free tips that everyone else is already saying. You provide value when you’re able to inspire a commitment to change. You add to the content literature in your niche when you have a distinctive point of view. This is also how you build content authority.

You add to the #content literature in your niche when you have a distinctive POV, says @MeeraKothand. #quotes Click To Tweet

This is not to say that we can’t learn from others, but I challenge you to take the best of what you know, apply it, and do you.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Your Brand Needs a Point of View, But Do You?

Start now, from where you are

This last set of quotes (of which there are quite a few) may be the most important and universal. Own where you are and keep moving forward.

I unfortunately don’t know who said this next gem, but I have repeated this quote numerous times since I heard it at Content Marketing World last year:

“You can’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle.”

It echoes these popular Chinese proverbs:

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

“Be not afraid of going slowly, be afraid only of standing still.”

And I leave you with this quote from Jay Acunzo who is talking to all of my marketing friends who experience this sense of paralysis because we think our work can be better:

Perfect isn’t the enemy of good, nor is it the barrier to done. I just think we’re framing the idea all wrong. Aspire to perfection over time, but make sure you’re taking one step forward today.

Aspire to perfection over time, but make sure you’re taking one step forward today, says @jayacunzo. Click To Tweet

Continue to prioritize, do, and own the best possible version of yourself, while making sure you have a hearty dose of quiet, so you can recharge and keep moving forward no matter where you are.

I’d love to hear what you are thinking about as we start the year. Share your favorite quotes – or ideas – in the comments.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: The Best Content Marketing Books of 2017 to Boost Your Creativity and Productivity

Get weekday inspiration and practical advice from CMI’s newsletter. Subscribe today.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post 16 More Quotes to Inspire Your Content Marketing appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

from https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2019/01/quotes-inspire-marketing/

0 notes

growingpaynes-art · 7 years

Text

I am so scared for Missouri I do not trust the writers at all So the psychic brains are sweeter than the "crazy" ones Jesus Christ dean How would she have his number They change their phones every two weeks I wish they had said Sam and Dean meet up with her every once in a while instead of not seeing her for 12 years This is an opportunity to bring back the actual antichrist Jesse He's the only thing close enough in power to Jack they can access She doesn't pick up on going to hell? Being a demon? Meeting god? His mom coming back to life? Guys CONTINUITY COME ON He should have given him a crayon or something so he couldn't accidentally shoot it into something So is patience psychic I wanna see Sam explain how he used his powers Sam you of all people should understand not wanting to remember having a demon in your head or being pressured to perform Wth is that about The cutaway tells me she or Dean or Jody got him but still I do not fucking trust the writers not to kill her ------------------------ Are you Are fucking kidding me ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME FUCK WHAT THE FUCK I SWEAR TO FUCKING CHRIST IF THIS IS NOT SOME FUCKING BULLSHIT TWIST WHERE SHE FAKED HER DEATH SERIOUSLY? AGAIN? NOT ONLY DOD THEY BRING THIS BELOVED CHARACTER BACK AFTER 12 FUCKING YEARS JUST TO KILL HER BUT THEY PULLED THE SAME FINALE BULLSHIT WHERE THEY DO IT WITH THE MOST DISGUSTING NONCHALANCE IT WASNT EVEN FUCKING ON CAMERA NO BODY NO MOURNING JUST LIKE IT SHE DOESNT MATTER WHAT THE FUCK THIS BETTER BE SOME CHEAP BULLSHIT FAKE OUT ----------------------------- Why would he attack her in a school where there are people twenty feet away in the gym and cameras in every hallway That makes no sense Why not wait till she was in the parking lot or something Isolated Wtf Why the fuck does Sam need to look at books about gifted children Sam you have been in his position You know how he feels Now would be the time for Sam to say "I've looked into the face of evil" he's witnessed it from the age of 6 months He's spent years in a cage tortured by this kid's father Tell him about your powers Sam Relate to him I'd like him to get more specific later but this is good I don't understand why he didn't this earlier and why he pressured Jack but whatever So what the fuck they literally just killed Missouri Are you goddamn serious They don't have her under protection the whole time? Also wtf is with this wraith he again attacks her when she's surrounded by people His hunting makes no sense Why kidnap her and not kill her there What does he need of her And Dean we've literally seen you capable of enhancing blurry tapes to get plates before why are you suddenly unable SO THEY LITERALLY FUCKING KILLED HER? wtf is that zoom that was fucking ridiculous Why is everyone suddenly entirely incompetent ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME THEYRE GONNS FUCKING KILL JODY AND MISSOURI IN THE SAME EPISODE NO I AM NOT GOING TO ACCEPT THAT THIS BETTER BE A DUCKING VISION NO NO so she's just seeing it in her head I'm still pissed the fuck off So are they gonna pull something like the whole episode was in her head and Missouri is fine and she'll warn everyone before bullshit happens Do something to show that you're at least a little upset about him fucking killing Missouri What do you mean "how did you" You know You told her ------------------- You have five minutes to fix the bullshit She's going to school are kidding me Of course that's realistic of the goddamn American education system, especially for advanced students Can't miss a single fucking day Even if your grandma just died and you were kidnapped/almost eaten all in one night Seriously They're not gonna fucking fix that?! Missouri is brought back after 12 fucking years to appear for five minutes and then get killed off camera cause they were too fucking cheap to give her the send off her character deserves?! This talk from Jody is good This is the kind of continuity and heart I love This is what we want to see JUST ANOTHER DAY AT THE OFFICE JUST ANKTHER ARE YOU FUCKING I UNDERSTAND THAT THEY ARE USED TO LOSING FRIENDS HORRIBLY ALL THE TIME BUT ARE YOU KIDDING TGEYVE ALWAYS BEEN UPSET SBOUT IT THEY NEVER JUST WENT HOME LIKE "GUESS THAT HAPPENED. WHATEVER." SERIOUSLY? He's gonna fucking pull out that word?! Freak?! He knows!! Exactly!!! What that means to Sam!!!! Why the fuck Would he ever use that word?! Yeah Sam bring it all up What the fuck?! So now that he knows dean's problem he's gonna bring Cas back from what I'm assuming is the empty and fix dean's and his issues? I AM PISSED THE FUCK OFF THEY JUST FUCKING KILLED MISSOURI LIKE THEY DIDNT CARE BECAUSE THEY DONT THEY DONT CARE ABOUT THIS SHOW THEY DONT CARE ABOUT THE CHARACTERS AND WHAT THEY MEAN THEY DONT GET THAT WHAT THEY DO ISNT JUST A FUCKING JOB THIS IS IMPORTANT TO SO MANY PEOPLE ALL THIS SHOW DOES IS MAKE ME ANGRY I HAVENT ENJOYED ANY EPISODES SINCE "DONT CALL ME SHURLEY" I HAD A TINY SHRED OF FAITH BUT THEY JUST KEEP FUCKING UP THE BULLSHIT FINALE OF 11 THAT NEVER LIVED UP TO ANY OF THE HYPE THEY BUILT THE BULLSHIT MEN OF LETTERS PLOT AND BRINGING MARY BACK THE BULLSHIT 12 FINALE WHERW THEY KILLED OFF HALF THE MAIN CAST THAT HAVE MEANT SO MUCH FOR YEARS IN BULLSHIT WAYS AS IF THEY NEVER MATTERED NO ONE HAS BEEN IN CHARACTER FOR LIKE TWO YEARS CONTINUITY IS OUT THE WINDOW THEY NEVER READDRESS THE ISSUES THEY MAKE (JESSE THE ANTICHRIST, THE KITSUNE KID, THE STICK ZOMBIE WITCH TWIN, AND THE OTHER INFINITE SIDE PLOTS THEY CREATE BUT NEVER MENTION AGAIN) WHY ARE MAJOR PAST ISSUES NEVER TALKED ABOUT AND THEN THEY DONT LEARN FROM THE MISTAKES THEY MAKE THERE NEEDS TO BE A MORE DIRECT VIEWER TO CREATOR CONTACT SO THEY KNOW WHAT DOESNT WORK AND WHY THIS IS JUST A SHOW TO SOME PEOPLE BUT TO MOST OF US IT ISNT THIS IS SO MUCH BIGGER AND IT CANT JUST BE HALF ASS THROWN AROUND RESPECT NEEDS TO BE GIVEN TO CHARACTERS AND STORYLINES

#13x03 #patience #supernatural #spn #oh my fucking chuck

0 notes

ralphmorgan-blog1 · 7 years

Text

How I Got Sent To Rehab For Being Too Gay

Flickr / rabble

I grew up as a sassy little boy in Arkansas. My parents separated when I was three or four years old and had an ongoing custody battle for me and my two older sisters until my seventh birthday. I was raised by my sisters, who had to grow up far beyond their years at such a young age. While they were raising me, my parents would use us as pawns in their game against one another. Wed be carted from one parent to the other every other weekend, despite our tears, screaming, and demands for all this to stop. It wasnt our choice; the court had ordered it.

Ive always known that I was gay. In fourth grade I told my best friend that I was in fact a bio-sexual. Yes, I said bio-sexual, and I remember explaining to him that that meant that I liked both boys and girls. He looked at me for a moment, as if planning his next move, and he promptly said that he didnt want to play with me that day. I went home, and the next day I told him that Id just been joking. Though he accepted my excuse, he became my enemy when he rode his bicycle down the street, called out my name, and then spat in my face. Rage filled me as I stomped down the pavement after his bicycle, grabbing at his backpack in anger. It was then that I realized that Arkansas was not the best place in the world for me. I had to get out.

It wasnt until I was 14 years old, after I had read Harry Potter and done copious amounts of research, that I decided that I wanted to go to boarding school. My mother was against these sorts of ideas, coming up with all manner of excuses, including telling me that I was going to die and that Id never see her again. My father, on the other hand, loved this idea, because the only way it could be properly executed was if he had custody of me, a thing he had been seeking so desperately for many years. Years later, I question his motives. Why would he want custody of his son when he was just going to send him off to boarding school? Why would he want kids if he wasn’t going to raise them? But I wanted to go to boarding school, so at the time I didnt care. For the first time, I thought I was finally free.

My freshman year of high school, I attended Stevenson School, a private, co-ed boarding school located in Pebble Beach, Calif. This was an absolute dream. I had finally found a place where I could be myself. I was gay, from Arkansas, and now living in one of the most open-minded states in the nation. By the time Christmas rolled around, I had completely come out of the closet, with minimal resistance from my peers. For the first time in my life, I felt like I had truly found a place that I could call home without the fear or anxiety that my parents caused me.

Spring break arrived, and I traveled back to Arkansas to visit my family. One day my father and stepmother sat me down in the study, a routine they often engaged in when they wanted to catch us children off-guard about a problem that they had with us. This is something that I like to call the sneak attack, where they would gaslight the situation.

My stepmother began. Back at Christmas, your sister found your journal and was shocked by something that you wrote, she told me. We know youre questioning your sexuality, but what do you have to say about that?

I looked from my father to my stepmother and knew my life was about to change. My response: Well, Im gay.

Thats when the frowns began, and I dont think Ive seen my parents genuinely smile at me since. Their questions came at me like bullets: What do you think about the Bible? Dont you want kids? Youre backing yourself into a corner; why dont you wait to decide to be gay when youre 25? I’m far past 25 now and I am most definitely gay.

That summer my father forced me to work as a maintenance man. I had the pleasure of working alongside some of the most ignorant, grotesque men. These middle-aged men would spit homophobic slurs and make sexually suggestive comments about my sisters, and when I used their restroom, I was forced to stare at pictures of naked women that they had posted on the wall. As I endured my own personal hell, I came to the conclusion that my father was somehow trying to butch me up. It was as if he thought that if I spent enough time doing manual labor, listening to crude humor, and keeping away from the arts, the gay would eventually just wash away. It didnt work. What worked was that that I learned patience, perseverance, and the value of staying true to myself. I also learned how to fix a sprinkler system. I chronicled all those days in my LiveJournal that summer. Finally it was time to go back to my boarding school.

My first week back at school, my father and stepmother came to pick me up to send me to rehab for being too gay. I was sitting in biology class when my advisor came to pull me out of class. I asked her if I was in trouble, and she assured me, Of course not. On our way to the admissions building, where her office was located, she casually asked me what Id done over the summer, how my siblings were, and how my parents had been taking my coming out of the closet. I told her that my summer had been hell, that my siblings were grea,t and that my parents werent really handling my coming out very well. As we walked into the admissions building, I could see two men sitting on the couch eyeing me suspiciously (I later found out that they were narcotics officers who had been hired to restrain me and escort me if I tried to escape), as well as my advisors husband and the dean of students. Everyone was just staring at me with the saddest look in their eyes. My advisor then walked me to the door, and I will never forget what she said to me: Im so sorry about whats about to happen. Just know that Tom and I love you. And everyone here at Stevenson does, too. Your parents are here, and theyre taking you away. She then opened the door, and sitting there were my father and stepmother.

My parents told me that theyd hired someone to go through our home computer. Theyd found my LiveJournal, and they were shocked to discover that not only was I gay but I was in fact super-gay. My stepmother looked me in the face and said, You need to butch it up. My father said that theyd also found a profile I had created for myself on a support site for young gay teens. In my biography section, I had said something to the effect of, Since there arent a lot of people in this area, I decided to include myself in the San Francisco area. For this they accused me of soliciting sex online. The wording they used, soliciting sex, made me feel like a prostitute. Additionally, theyd found transcripts of AOL instant messages in which Id discussed with a friend how I would eventually come out of the closet to my younger siblings, who were merely hypothetical at the time. (My stepmother was going through in-vitro fertilization.) Of course, they accused me of wanting to turn my hypothetical siblings gay. I do have younger brothers now, identical twinsbut I’m unaware of what they know about me. I just hope that our parents hate and closed-mindedness didn’t seep into them.

At that point my parents escorted me out of the admissions building, the two narcotics officers holding me by the arms as they led me toward a car. I didnt know why I was being escorted by the two officers; I would later find out that my parents believed that I was on drugs. My peers were watching me as I took the slowest, most humiliating walk of my life. Those two burly men placed me in the car and forced their arms against my shoulders on each side of me so that I was incapable of moving. I felt like a criminal. Then my parents put me on a private plane and sent me to Timberlawn Mental Health System in Dallas, Texas.

As I was admitted into the mental institution, I was visibly upset. Of course I looked crazy, in a Claire-Danes-in- kind of way. I was being put away against my will for being gay, not to mention in a drug and behavioral facility that focused on kids with eating disorders, drug problems, and suicidal tendencies. I didnt belong there. I was stripped of my shoelaces so that I couldnt kill myself with them. I was tested for drugs (it came out negative), given a full-body cavity search (completely clean), and started on a dose of Zoloft that rendered me incapable of feeling any type of emotion. Talk about completely losing every shred of privacy and dignity in a matter of 24 hours. I was a zombie. I was stuck. I was gay and couldnt get out of there.

The kids that I dealt with while in rehab werent the same as me. There was a girl who had tried to cut her fingers off with childs scissors in order to kill herself. There was another girl who had tried to kill herself by wrapping shoelaces around her throat; she was forced to sleep on a mattress on the lobby floor so that the nurses could keep an eye on her at all times. I was the only kid in the unit who was allowed to go to sleep at night with his or her door closed. Several times staff members asked me why I was there, telling me that they thought I seemed pretty level-headed for a teenager. I told them that I was gay and that my parents werent ready to accept it. I was a minor, though, and there was no way of controlling my own destiny when it came to getting out of there. Luckily, I was discharged on my fourth day. I called my parents, thinking that theyd be happy for me and would return me to my boarding school. I was wrong. They were too busy to pick me up, and I was forced to stay there for a full week.

The next facility I was admitted to was Meridell Achievement Center, located outside Austin, Texas. This was a longer-term stay. An alternative program would have been something like Outward Bounds Intercept program, which takes troubled youth on camping adventures in order to teach self-sufficiency and survival skills. I like to describe the differences between these types of programs in MTV terms: Meridell Achievement Center is like The Real World, with youth living in the confines of a safe, structured environment, often fighting (in group therapy in our case), whereas Outward Bounds Intercept program is more like Road Rules, with a group of individuals forced to work together on adventurous outdoor tasks.

I actually enjoyed Meridell Achievement Center, in a Stockholm Syndrome sort of way, because although I was there against my will, the staff assured me that they werent going to try to turn me straight. They asked me what sort of treatment I wanted instead. So I decided that instead of becoming a straight man, I would become more assertive. Over the month and a half that I was at Meridell Achievement Center, we would chronicle our treatment via journaling and a group session called Goals and Feelings. This is where we would sit around in a circle and discuss what our goals and feelings were for the day. This was an extremely cathartic experience. I read the dictionary for fun and worked on my vocabulary.

Eventually my parents began to call and ask me how I was doing in my treatment. They were always vague about why I was there and what I needed to do in order to get out of there. They just kept telling me, You know what you have to do. Work on your treatment. Whatever that meant. After Id been there for a month and a half, they would call and ask, So when do you think youre going to get better? My response was that there wasnt anything wrong with me. Because the facility was so expensive, they once again decided to send me to another facility, for a much longer stay.

I arrived in Sutton, Vt., to attend the King George School upon the first snowfall of the year. If there is a hell, Im convinced that its actually cold and in Vermont. KGS was somewhere between a boarding school and a rehab facility. It was kind of like a prison for shady kids. I was essentially stuck there until I was 18 years old and allowed to discharge myself. Though Im still friends with some of the kids I met there, I was surrounded by misfits. It was horrible. I had a roommate who defecated on the floor, forcing us all to evacuate the dorm for health code reasons. I had another roommate who poked my eye with his penis while I tried to sleep. There was a girl who decided to eat my puzzle pieces so that I wouldnt be able to complete it. These kids were far more troubled than I was as a hormonal gay boy. During my first four months there I didnt receive any kind of psychiatric treatment whatsoever, and then the appointed psychiatrist declared me completely stable and normal. He even told me that I never deserved to be there in the first place. But how to get out?

I remember during Christmas, my parents and my sister came to visit me. They took me off campus to stay at the Wildflower Inn just outside of town. We were having dinner one night and all having a glass of Chardonnay, which only furthers my point of the absurdity of me being in rehab in the first place. The candlelight was dancing across our red faces when my stepmom blurted out that I was an accident, meaning I wasn’t a planned pregnancy between my father and mother. When I asked my father if this were true and if I were a last ditch-effort to save his marriage with my mother, he solemnly answered, Yes.

Finally, after 279 days of rehab, I was released back into the wild. As it turned out, the person who convinced my parents to let me return to Stevenson School was the very woman who had helped my stepmother through her first divorce back in the 1990s. That must have been one hell of a mental breakdown, because that was my ticket back to the place that I loved, the place that had accepted me unconditionally, the place that had made me the strong-willed, no-holds-barred, wonderful gay man that I am today.

As for my relationship with my parents today, Ill tell you this. I called my father the other day and left him a voicemail. I had left him a voicemail every day all summer long, begging for help financially because I don’t know when I’m going to eat next or let alone be able to pay my bills or rent. He hadn’t answered or returned a single phone call. I finally called and asked him if he wanted to have a relationship with me at all. He called me back and began to list all the ways that I had manipulated him over the summer in trying to receive help. Mind you, I suffer from and seek help for major depression and PTSD from childhood and adolescent abuse caused by this man. I am also a recovered alcoholic and have a little over two years of sobriety. By no means am I trying to manipulate the situation, but he instead gaslights the situation and backs me into a corner to make me feel that I had. I let him know that I felt the same about him with this situation on the phone. He did say he wanted to have a relationship with me in the end, but based on his actions and words, he doesn’t. He has five children and he could care less about any of them. Why have kids if you aren’t going to be a father?

In terms of my recovery, I drank a lot because of my memories of my childhood and the experiences I had while in rehab. I have explored in trauma therapy one in particular that had me at the bar almost every night staring into the mirror ahead of me sipping on whiskey, replaying the events from childhood. At the age of three, in his truck, propped up against the steering wheel, the pleas to, Come on, and Quick. That’s the man who sent me to rehab for being too gay. He’s a hypocrite. He sickens me. He’s a monster. And I might as well be done with him for good.

I never got the chance to come out of the closet on my own terms, so I would like to take this opportunity to let everyone know, Looks like I relapsed, because Im still gay.