#and reading… something. or i might play stardew honestly. or write!! i’ve been wanting to write for so long my god

[adhdarcheologist]

Tools, Games and Apps

So it’s been a minute since I posted an actual post but I’ve found a moment to use my brain away from thesis work. I figured it might be nice to do a small post about some of the tools that help me get through my school work. Sometimes your brain is a puddle of neutrons and you need a little help to get work done, these are great for those times and in general. It’s definitely not exhaustive but these are some of my go to apps/ tools to help my long suffering brain get through uni work.

Reading > Voice dream > Natural reader

Voice to text readers and audiobooks are genuinely so helpful for me in my degree. Archeology involves allot of reading and if you struggle with it, academia gets real hard real fast. Personally I use Voice Dream for most of my reading. You can just download the app on your phone and use it with any e-text. The great thing about this app in particular is that is has a built in OCR so it can read scanned documents which is the bane of everyone who uses a voice reader’s existence. This way I can listen to the texts I need to read while doing other things. Ideally you can do things around the house or take a walk but truly I tend to play Minecraft. It’s engaging enough to keep me interested but not so much that I stop listening to the reading, 10/10 would recommend. Other games like Stardew Valley or Sims can even be good, honestly it’s up to your brain and what works for you.

SIDE NOTE: If you can I recommend getting some premium voices because the free ones get grating after not too long. My personal favourites are Brian or Tyler, however at one point I did use a sprat voice for each subject to kind of organize them in my brain.

Note taking > Bear > Evernote > Obsidian > Stimuwrite

If you’re taking note for anything be that class, readings, personal thoughts, essays etc. it’s good to have a note taking system that works for you. My personal favourite is Bear and I’ve been using it for years. It lets me organize and file everything well under tags and you can customize it to look how you want. If you want premium it’s pretty cheap however you can still absolutely use the free version no problem.  Everyone has a preference but really the goal it to get something that lets you stay organized and doesn’t hinder your writing process.

SIDE NOTE: I added Stimuwrite here because it’s an interesting concept, having a note taking app made directly for ADHD.

Thought/ project organization > Miro: mind mapping > Trello

I know mind mapping is kind of a cliché but honestly sometimes it does help (just don’t let my gr.7 teachers know). Personally I like Miro but you can use anything that works for you. Another thing I use it for is actually to make Harris Matrises, it makes it easy to organize it all. Trello is basically an online workspace where you can organize and manage projects you’re working on, kind of like a virtual board full of sticky notes. 

Pomodoro > Virtual cottage

The Pomodoro technique can be really useful and I know allot of people who like using it. I admit that it doesn’t work for me all the time but when it does I really like using virtual cottage to do it. The game is available on steam for free and basically creates a cozy little atmosphere for you to study/work to. With a cute little scene that changes with actual the time and the weather that you pick it gives you a little low playlist to work to. You can set a timer and name what it is you’re doing and genuinely I just love the cozy vibes. It’s definitely not the only game out there for Pomodoro so I encourage anyone who’s interested to look around and find one that works for them. There are also YouTube videos that do the same thing or in a pinch just a timer.

[crispylycoris]

Above is a drawing I did for another, currently ongoing, prompt list! This is for week one of the childhood memories 2021 prompts! I’m actually posting this one as it’s going on because I reached the character limit for the post on Instagram 😭 So I’ll go into more detail in this post under the read more!

✨✨✨✨✨

The prompt for week one was toys/games. And when I think back on some toys and games I think about my GameBoy Advance SP which I think was my first gaming system. It’s like the one in the drawing. Adorned with Pokémon stickers! 😊 I actually used mine as reference and drew the game that was in it when I grabbed it and it was Pokémon pinball: ruby and sapphire edition! And I know there’s a black boarder around the screen but I remembered it as I was finishing coloring Pokémon pinball and it was too late 😭. And I had shared games with my brother, who had his own GBA SP, but his was silver.

For the content of the picture I’ll start from the top and go counterclockwise and I’ll share my memories with the games:

✨On the top we have a little Spongebob waving. 👋[I don’t recall ever playing a GBA Spongebob game, maybe? But he’s here because I had one of those white game cards that was just videos! I think one of the videos was the bubble stand one! Because of it’s a giraffe. And I think another one may have been the one where Squidward gets into an accident or something and Spongebob and Patrick take care of him because of firmly grasp it!]

✨Then of course we have Claire from Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town. [I know it’s like now Story of Seasons, but you know, not at the time kinda thing. Anyways, my grandpa, or 公公 (gung gung) (according to google that’s how you write and spell it), got me this game as a kid and I loved it 💖 It’s a wonderful game and I love the art and stuff and caring for the cute animals, the people, the aesthetic, and almost everything about it 🥰 It’s what pulled me into the series and into farming Sims like Stardew 💕 I think I’ve played this game into the 10s of years. And I chose Grey ❤️ I’ll always treasure this game 🥰].

✨Next is a pink lightning bolt symbol ⚡️ from the evergirls game. [I don’t remember what this game was about or even know why I picked this game out. I don’t even know if I completed the game. I think there was some character customization?]

✨Then we have the girl and a dog from the Dogz GBA game. 🐕 [I only vaguely remember this game but it had cute art and I loved it. Though I think it had short gameplay 🙁 I wanted to play with my pup forever... But I think it ends after a certain amount of time? I wanna play it again. And I remember carrying the dog for a bit! And also playing the reversi mini game].

✨At the bottom is Cream the Rabbit from Sonic [I barely remember anything about the Sonic game I played. I think that it was one of my brother’s games. Like I remember her and a light blue character I think was Chao? I remember running from Dr. Eggman as he was chasing me in a flying machine and the art was nice. 😊].

✨Then we have Leaf and a Bulbasaur! 🍃 [I think that Pokémon Fire Red was the first game I had! And bulbasaur was my first ever starter 🥰 But I also remember I was playing a new file in the car and I had over-written all of my progress 💔😭. My second starter is technically charmander... And I remember battling my brother and losing a lot. But I beat one of his Pokémon with a metronome toxic once and that’s memorable between the two of us 😊 I think I still lost though lol].

✨Then we have Michelangelo (or Mikey) from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. [I think this was one of my brother’s games because I don’t recall playing much of it. I picked to draw Mikey because I recall the sewer skateboarding mini game! And I also remember that one time I got some kinda score on it and bowed and like tripped or something and hurt my lip lol].

✨To the right of Mikey we have Mega Man. [This was another one of I borrowed my brother’s game. I honestly don’t know what Mega Man game this is. Maybe Battle Network? I only really remember Roll and a cactus enemy].

✨Then we have the girl character from Mario Golf Advanced Tour. [Again a game I borrowed from my brother. And I guess the girl’s name is Ella? I just looked it up. Anyways I don’t remember progressing the story all too much. I thought it was really cute. And I drew her crying because I only remember getting bogeys lol].

✨Next to her we have a cat as a representative for Catz. [Another game borrowed from my brother. I’m sad I don’t remember much of this game, but it’s probably like Dogz where it’s short but you take care of a cat].

✨Then we have Spyro. [Probably also a game from my brother. I don’t have like any recollection of playing Spyro games at all. Like I think I played as him as he was defending something on a wooden bridge as things were getting shot at him. I don’t know. I included him anyways].

✨To his right we have my game chest which holds some of my games! I painted it myself!

✨And in the center is my red GBA SP! It’s playing Pokémon pinball (I think the Ruby level). And on it you can see that I have Cyndaquil, Chikorita, and Eevee stickers. [I loved this game so much and played it a lot but I don’t think I ever actually got to catch Jirachi 🥲].

I had other GBA games I played but might not have remembered them. Some I do vaguely remember are finding Nemo, Winnie the Pooh, SMB 3, That so Raven, Pet resort, Pokémon games, other harvest moon games, hot potato, and some kinda game that had other games like a racing one and dig dug.

Other games I played in general were like Jack and Dexter, computer games, and maybe Raymon?

✨✨✨✨✨✨

And in terms of the drawing, I’m happy with how it turned out! And I think I’m gonna do lighting like how I did with Leaf’s hair from now on! Sneaking hearts in where I can. And I have just noticed that I messed up Cream by drawing on the wrong layer 😭. But I think that the colors remained pretty much consistent from what I had on my laptop at least.

If you read all that, thank you for enjoying my art and taking a trip down memory lane with me! 💕 Have a wonderful week! 😊

[dredshirtroberts]

Getting to know me

Done got tagged by the amazing��@somanyjacks-writes! 

Three ships: Starting off with a hard one are we? Um...Geraskier, Adorculbull is a favorite ot3 of mine (though any combo is *excellent*), and we’ll wrap it up with Zukka.

Last song: Spotify says Weird Friends (We Don’t Even Live Here) by P.O.S. but I think technically it’s music from Stardew Valley from last night.

Last movie: Honestly it might actually be As Above So Below when I watched that several months ago now. I’ve only watched TV shows and youtube videos since then I think.

Currently reading (book): Oh I don’t have a book in progress right yet, but I did receive the next books in the PJO series so I’ll have to start that sometime soon cause I did enjoy Lightning Thief a lot.

Currently reading (fanfic): The Wind that Cuts the Night by thespectaclesofthor (If you click the link PLEASE mind the tags and warnings, it’s not light reading) and yes before you ask that is exactly the inspiration behind me finally going ahead and getting Stardew Valley (though I still only think of somanyjacks-writes’ Dragon Age Stardew Valley AU Sow the Fallow Field when I’m playing so like...there’s that).

Writing: I’m *trying* to work on Lia & Em’s Adventure in Thedas II: The Threat Remains because there are several chapters left of that to do and it might grow because I know how I am. But instead I got bitten by a nice little plot bunny for the Ashael-Heraldquisitor Universe and now the Ashael x Solas Rivals-To-Lovers+Fake Relationship oneshot (I *hope*) “Better Than The Get-Along Shirt” (working title) has bee started. So...fuck me I guess.

Currently watching: Nothing really - I cycle through game grumps compilations and markiplier stuff from time to time (I like watching the prophunt playlist sometimes). Unus Annus is something I’ve been tuning into on occasion when I remember to do the thing. Buzzfeed Unsolved marathons are good for when I want to take a nap. but really that’s pretty much it. It’s been a majority of just random shit on youtube here recently.

Currently consuming: Water with zipfizz in it. it’s berry flavor.

Currently craving: Idk...not really sure I’m craving anything in specific at this moment in time. There’s things I always kind of want in the background but those are low-level and fairly easily ignored. I mean, I haven’t had sushi in months so that’d be super sprøde if i got some of that. Maybe a big ol steak would be good (but if I start *really* craving red meat I know I need to up my iron intake. right now it’s just like....I’d like one). 

If you’d like to do it, please do! Don’t let me stop you from telling the internet about yourself (that’s what I do!)

[nerdyfandomgamer]

2020, huh? What a crazy year. I didn’t even realize today was actually the last day of 2020.

I’m not going to really review what my year has been like because nothing really exciting or important, it’s just been a hectic year. With lockdown, things were a bit better since I got to stay home and it’s helped me manage some of the homework I’ve been assigned as well as other chores and whatnot. There were a lot of good times though, I will not lie, and most of them came from an amazing friend of mine. We played Portal 2 co-op this year, played through that main story as well as the DLC, and we’ve started playing some Stardew Valley co-op here at the end. Okay so maybe there wasn’t a ton of gaming but it was still so much fun! Chatting was our biggest thing though and, wow, did we have some amazing chats. And aside from some ups and downs in mental health, this year was surprisingly a bit better for me mentally though I won’t go into details. I’ve improved, I’ve grown, and I’m kinder to myself now. I’m still struggling but I’m realizing I’m not totally alone, and I’ve once again had a lot of support from my wonderful friend this year just as I have had for the past four years.

Speaking of that wonderful friend of mine, that’s honestly the main reason I’m even making this post so let’s get right to that!

@eds-self-shipping you, my friend, are a fantastic friend, have I mentioned that lately? As I just told you, I saw that post you made about your 2020 in review and I have to go ahead and say that I am so proud of you. Look how much you’ve improved this year! You’ve had your moments but look at you, you’ve pushed through those tough times 2020 has thrown at you and you’ve kicked their asses even if you don’t believe that you have. You’re persevered through so much and I am so proud of you. 

But let’s not forget that amazing book of yours, Out of Frame! When you first told me about the concept of it, I thought that would be an amazing idea, and I’ve proven to be right, haven’t I? Your writing has continued to improve and this book certainly shows that, it’s amazing! Of course, I haven’t read most of it yet but those snippets you’ve shared have been amazing. I can’t wait to see how this book continues to grow, and I’ll be rooting you on until the end! 

And another thing, in your post you mentioned how I’ve been there for you so let me go ahead and thank you so much for your kind words, they mean a lot. Now it’s my turn to thank you for being there for me. You’ve been there basically 24/7 for me for any issue I’ve had, and I don’t know where I’d be without you. I don’t even want to think where I’d be without you and the comfort and advice you’ve given to me. And your gushing and infodumping, oh my goodness that has been such a joy to hear! Every time you gush or ramble about something through text or on a call I get so excited. The things you love are so fascinating and even if I don’t always know what you’re talking about, I love listening to you. The way you think is amazing and you’re always so expressive when talking, it really is just a joy to listen to you. I’m serious when I say that your gushes really light up my day. And on the flip side, thank you for letting me ramble as well. I know I’m still very anxious and I struggle with staying on track when I get a chance to talk, but you always listen to me and you even encourage me. I don’t know how to tell you how much it means to me because it just means so much to me, thank you.

Ed, you are truly the best friend anyone could have ever asked for and I am so incredibly lucky that I’ve gotten to be your friend for four years. I still cannot believe that one silly message I sent you has led to such a wonderful friendship, I really can’t. I could keep going on and on and on about you but I unfortunately do not have the time! Well, it might be fortunate for you because otherwise you’d end up reading a whole book about how wonderful you are, but I think you get the point. I love you and care for you so much, you have no clue just how much. I can’t wait to see what the new year holds for us and I certainly can’t wait to tackle it all with you!

Happy New Year! :D

[littlechinesedoll]

Graveyard Keeper Review

Platform: Steam

Playtime: 73 hours

Game Stats: 484 graveyard points, 70 church points, 81 tavern points, 91 Gold, 15 or so zombies, +/- 2k red points, +/- 1500 green points, +/- 500 blue points, did not unlock all the technologies.

Mods used: Faster Craft, Increase Inventory, Infinite Energy, Inflation Mod, No Cooldown Teleport, Sprint

---

Okay, so I finished the Graveyard Keeper (discounted at 4 or 5 bucks), together with its two DLCs, Breaking Bad (free) and Stranger Sins (6 bucks). Overall for that price it’s pretty good.

Spoilers ahead, of course. Oh, and very long rant if you’re up for the read.

So it starts with you going to a store to pick up some groceries, then you look at your phone while crossing he street and it’s you love calling, and because you didn’t look both ways before steeping on the crosswalk, you die. And then you wake up as the next graveyard keeper.

Honestly, whoever the last one was did a poor job of keeping the graveyard, cos what the fuck are all these bad corpses doing buried here? JK. ANYWAYS.

First, we’re gonna talk about mechanics.

I loved the game. It’s much like Stardrew Valley in a sense that you’ve got pretty much the same thing going on, except that it’s much, much, much more stressful. You can’t just go forage things and then sell all of it expecting you’ll get money and then buy the thing that you need to accomplish this task.

Nope. It’s none of that. it’s goes so far as you have to make your own goddamn ink to write something. But then you’d have to go to the poultry to buy feathers to write with?? There’d been too many time’s I’d say ‘what the fuck’ every time I’d have to craft something to do something as mundane as fucking frying onion rings.

There’s a review on steam that perfectly summarizes what I feel about the game as a whole. It’s a review by Isackender they say:

“I love grinding games like Stardew Valley, Don't Starve or Forager. When you play them, you feel good completing a task because what you just achieved will help you to advance slowly towards your goal. And what's most important, these tasks are fair.

Graveyard Keeper fails miserably at doing this.

A lot of the tasks you're required to complete feel meaningless.

…

That feel of ‘I haven't done anything today’ is constant.”

And that’s true! Every time you go to bed or mediated for energy, it feels like, even though you’ve buried a body, planed some crops, chopped down some wood, crafted all these things, mined a crap ton of stone and marble for graveyard decorations, it’s never enough. You literally have no means of earning other than burying shit-rated bodies at the start, so that you can get money to buy crops that you need to sell in order to make more money. What’s more frustrating, is that if you sell too much of one thing to any NPC who’ll buy your shit, you won’t be able to sell that other 400 pieces of carrots you’ve harvested because they’ll have no money to buy more, and your crops will be of no value because there is too much of it. I mean that makes sense IRL, but god. I was stuck at two silver coins FOR WEEKS.

Though I think I might be comparing it too much to Harvest Moon or Stardew Valley, where everything you do gives you an idea of what you’re working towards: a great farm, with diverse produce, healthy animals, and a good income.

God you’d be crafting for WEEKS and you’d still not be able to earn anything.

I only finished it out of spite. I mean, I’m already here. I already wasted 40 hours on it why not just fucking go on with it? 40 hours! That’s 10 hours more than I work in a week these days.

You’re also confined to a day in a week to do everything you need to do. Many of the NPCs you need to interact with that has something to do with the main storyline are only available once a week. So if you forget what day it is, you’d have to wait for another week to move along whatever it is you want to move on with. I always forget this with Snake, the Astrologer, the Merchant, and Ms. Charm. It’s frustrating to have to trudge through another week and then maybe forget again that Ms. Charm is singing at The Dead Horse today. It’s mad.

And then there’s The Town. You spend MONTHS on earning enough money to get you a Town Pass, only for you to be struck down by lightning the moment you pass the gates. So what’s the point of building up hype and telling you that you need to get to Town, and gather all of these items for you to be able to craft the thing that will get you home? The Town literally does not exist. Which is also annoying because southwest of the Farmer, THERE’S A COAL VEIN THAT I NEED FOR THE FURNACE.

The literal amount of wood you need to advance in this game is insane. I mean I have zombies chopping wood for me but still.

Teleport stone needs way too much time to cooldown, hence, the mod. I hate walking at a glacial pace, hence, the mod. I was frustrated with the money, hence, the mod. It’s not a mod to make me earn faster, but a mod to let me sell as much as the buyer is selling their products. Shit amount inventory, hence, the mod. And I’m not wasting two days for something to craft in the furnace, hence, the mod.

I also hate that big pieces of wood don’t go in your inventory. It’s frustrating because what if you chopped down something on the other side of the map? You’d have to lug that shit one at a time back to your work yard? And then, when you’ve got too many items on the screen, like for example, just because you want to, you chopped down all the trees in your backyard, leaving behind, say, 50 pieces of log. The FPS will drop like a bitch. Seriously. I was at a constant 60fps at the start then by the end, when I’ve got my yard set up, together with the vineyard and my zombie farm, the game is always at a constant 25fps and it’s hurting my eyes. There was a time I left zombies mining at the quarry; the game dropped to 1fps every ten seconds!  UGH. JLAKSDJAKSD

Okay. So. Mechanics aside, now on to the story. I mean, alright, it’s cute. I decided to finish the tavern first. The Stranger Sins DLC is where the story of the town comes from.

There’d been an old god and a new god.

I have a lot of questions. Keeper was split in two. Why and where did the old god send him? Why did the old god grant people immortality in exchange for destroying their faith in him? WHY DOES THE DONKEY TALK? I farmed hundreds of carrots for this asshole and he doesn’t even get a story?

Also, what the fuck is up with that shitty ending? I mean, that’s it? It just. Ends. Like that. you don’t go home—your Missus is transported to you and it ends. What the fuck? I wasted 73 hours for that shit?

There’s no replayability either. You finish it and that’s it. you go back to your save and you’re send back to the last time you saved it. It doesn’t even save after you open the portal so you could work on improving your graveyard or make more wine for your tavern.

It’s fun for a while. But if you might not finish it.

[gayasinstupidpodcast]

What’s up gamers!!! Our fourth episode plowed through the chaos of thanksgiving holidays and is Here w/ some Facts and Opinions about creating shit and being LGBT and how being LGBT influences creating shit. HEADS UP we recorded this while I had a cold so my voice is probably a little off, but ik Isaac put SO much work into the editing so it would be ready on time and we have recorded statements from some amazing artists (transcriptions under the cut below!) & this is honestly one of my favorite episodes we’ve done so far, so give her a listen if you’re gay or enjoy fun things!

BIG thank you once again to everyone who participated in this month’s episode!! Your contributions are so valued and so beautiful!!

You can find us on the Itunes Podcast App/Webpage at Gay As In Stupid Podcast! You can also find our episodes uploaded to Youtube and Soundcloud!

You can also follow us on twitter at gayasinstupid!

Further Reading on LGBT Artists

Montage of a Queering Deferred: Memory, Ownership, and Archival Silencing in the Rhetorical Biography of Langston Hughes

The Political Provocations of Keith Haring 

Pop art politics: Activism of Keith Haring 

E M Forster’s Gay Fiction

Alok Vaid-Menon Tells Us What It’s Like To Be Femme In Public

Shea Diamond Speaks Her Truth

Aaron’s 2018 November Recs!

Alok Alok Vaid-Menon is one of my favorite poet/activist/performance artists out there! Their writing and stage presence is gorgeous and witty in a way that’s SO clever and still feels like you’re in a room trading jokes you don’t need to explain with your closest trans friends. The way they balance their art creates a real, deeply touching experience that feels very essential to our world.

Miles (2016) Miles is set in 1999 and is a coming of age story about a gay teenager trying to get a volleyball scholarship for college in Chicago. It’s not revolutionary and it’s not over the top dramatic, but it’s funny and honest and it makes me feel nice. Definitely the movie to watch when you’ve just been through something emotionally taxing and need a light crying session and some mediocre pastries.

Isaac’s 2018 November Recs!

The Adventure Zone I know half of you already kin the Mcelroys while the other half either don’t know or don’t care, but the Adventure Zone is one of my most favorite things in the world. It’s a DND podcast (yes, all episodes are transcribed, and they have a graphic novel for the first arc of Balance with a second one on the way!) by three brothers plus their dad, and not only does it have the most amazing story and is ungodly funny, but TONS of gays (Griffin went ape with those Lesbian NPCS)! And just because they can! Same with trans characters. It’s a story where they just exist, and that’s really important to me because in a lot of media LGBT have to almost prove why they deserve to take up space. And it’s not just something that goes on in their first campaign, Amnesty also has those sweet sweet gay! I could talk about this podcast for hours, so if you needed that final push to give it a listen, THIS IS IT!

Stardew Valley You get to farm and be gay. And if THAT hasn’t sold you on this charming video game, then maybe the super cute graphics, beautiful soundtrack and a handful of interesting characters will! TBH I spend so much time playing this game it’s concerning. It’s just such a fun way to relax, and I just really REALLY like video games were I can chose to be gay. Like. God Tier. YOU CAN HAVE CROPS AND CHICKENS AND BE GAY C’MON YALL!!

The Amazing Quotes And Artists Featured!

Meg | instagram | esty

“My identity as a bisexual woman influences my art in many ways. As a woman, i create art about the issues that effect me, such as abortion and gender equality, in order to resonate with the people that matter most to me. As a bisexual individual, my subjects often appear from a gaze that falls outside of the stereotypical eye. My figure drawings and portraits all come from a place of admiration, and don’t fall into the stereotype of the male gaze or womanly care- they are the space inbetween, equally sexualized and normalized. I feel lucky to be a bi gal in the art world because it is a place that is my own to create in. There are so many queer artists that i look up to such as Mapplethorpe and Warhol, and many female artists i can cite as influence (Jenny Holzer, Kiki Smith, and Louise Bourgeois to name a few). My identity gives me a whole new world of content to draw from and allows my work to resonate with a wider audience, and I really think that any artists goal is to reach and touch as many people as possible.“  

Cameron | twitter | instagram 

“I don’t think that it influences the form really, but it definitely influences the subject matter! (Much as I hate to admit it, my identity influences the majority of choices I make in life.) I write a lot of poems about lgbtq related things and religion, as well as other stuff too. I was raised catholic, so realizing that I was “different” at more than one point in my teen years was scary AF. Being a member of the lgbtq+ community and also trying to still feel like I belong, or wanting to, in a religious community is hard, the two things are usually at a crossroads in my life so writing about them makes it easier for me to get through. My hope is that someday someone reads what I wrote and finds some peace in their own life/experience.” 

Vince | art instagram

“Well, being transgender I feel like I’m constantly aware of the lack of representation of my community, and I feel like it might be because of that I tend to experiment with showing all sorts of different type of people in my work. Because there’s so much diversity in the world, why not showcase that?”

Fox | art instagram  

“Oof…I’m gay so my characters always be gay. Gotta Fill the void in media w my own bullshit so I don’t have to rely on straight showrunners who will inevitably discard the character since they themselves seem to have no personal attachment and treat lgbt characters as disposable extras. Bc if I don’t at least attempt to create representation in the field I’m going into then I can’t rlly complain about the lack of it right? If I don’t try and change it I can’t complain about the lack of change so being an lgbt artist is lowkey Big Pressure to be revolutionary in your work but sometime…..I just wanna draw funkey animeal and that’s aight too”

Jen | twitter | instagram

“As a female bisexual poet, I worry often that my poetry and art will be too niche to be appreciated. I’ve spent years editing my poetry down to its barest bones in hopes that someone will relate to it. Changing pronouns back and forth because I worry that if I do talk about a woman, the poem will be stripped of its context and suddenly be about my queerness when in reality it never was. When I write about love and people I have dated and have crushed on, I want the poem to exist outside of the gender of who I love. I fear my authorial death will result in a complete misinterpretation of what I mean. When I write, it truly does not matter to me if I am writing about a woman or a man. If I feel what I write and I can make someone else feel it too does it matter that I also love women? I write what matters to me overall, regardless of gender, I try to make my poetry as true as possible. Sometimes, when I catch myself over editing I try to take myself back to the moment, to the person, what I loved about him or her. “

Lain | art instagram

“My LGBT Identity has significantly impacted almost all of my art, especially my work over the last two years. Ever since I have allowed myself to accept that I am trans and began my transition (6 months on T!), the impact that my Roman Catholic upbringing has had on my bisexual trans identity has bled into my artwork. Because of the way I was raised, accepting and allowing myself to be authentic has been an upward struggle. And what better way to process and document struggle than art?  

Much of my recent work has had a focus on the trans body, particularly the “sanctity” of self-actualization and the god-like power that comes with accepting and creating yourself in the unique and exceptional way that LGBT people must in order to live authentically. Two of my pieces on this topic were actually recently exhibited at UWM in the Trans-lucent exhibition, and will remain there until December 15th (I think). I got sick and tired of never seeing trans representation, so now I am creating that space that I crave in my own work.”

Kobe | instagram | soundcloud

“My art from is very influenced by my LGBT identity. It is very influenced by my LGBT black Identity. I think that whenever an artist makes their art (in my case writing music, singing, dancing) they should incorporate as much of themselves as possible. I think my LGBT identity definitely adds a sense of representation as well. I want people like me to listen to my music to know they aren’t alone. So it influences my work a lot. “

Nat | art instagram

“I think the fact that I am part of the LGBT+ community influences my art directly. Even though I don’t draw as often as I wish, I believe both my drawings and college projects (I am a 3d art/animation student), and my creativity in general is inspired by my personal experiences as a gay woman and common things experienced by the community. I try as often as I can to bring representation of some kind in the things I do, mainly personal projects. I also feel that it influences me on my motivation to keep creating; whenever I listen to, see drawings, watch movies or see whatever form of artistic expression from LGBT+ artists it gives me the energy to keep going, to keep creating.”

[dandelliongirl]

November

is here already!

Time has flown by a lot faster than I expected it to. It has probably been because I’ve kept so busy. Also overall I’ve been feeling better by the day.

The last weekend of October was a grandmum weekend. As a bit of a surprise both my grandmums came over to get new phones. They both had the same lumia phone before and now they have Honor 8 lites like me so that I can provide tech support. (For clarification again, I call my mum’s mum grandmum, and my dad’s mum by her first name because we aren’t that close. So when I talk about granmum it’s my mum’s mum.)

So I spent Saturday and Sunday recording more poetry with grandmum and she stayed the night at my place. It was supposed to be my laundry weekend but spending time with granny was much more special. We did some re-recordings for our poetry project together and went over stuff on her new phone. On Sunday we went to have dinner with mum and dad before granny drove back home and I went to teach my classes. I truly enjoyed work, we started rehearsing Christmas shows with both groups and everybody had a fun time. I wish work could be that much fun every time. Unfortunately I missed most of Mischacrossing’s ACNL Halloween stream because of daylight savings, which was upsetting.

On Monday I worked on finishing up the main body of text in my thesis. It really blows my mind how I could just submit my MA thesis for pre-grading now if I had no standards. Like it’s all written out now, all 95 pages of it. I can’t believe I did it. Now all that’s left is adding some more sources and researching more context for some of the people that I write about. Anything that I manage to add now is going to be extra, and it’ll lessen my workload for next spring after the pre-grading feedback comes in. I’m pretty sure my thesis would already pass though, so if the worst comes to pass and for some reason I can’t do anything to it anymore at least I can submit it for some kind of a grade already. Still, I aim to make it a good one so that in case I ever feel like going back to school for a PHD I have that door open for me. It has been a year since I started the process but somehow it feels like I’ve completed it without noticing. It’s a weird and surreal feeling, and also a bit scary because that means graduation and being on my own again.. Anyway for the rest of Monday I went to a meeting regarding the future of the Children’s university, and to the office to do work after that. In the evening I did JLPT stuff.

On Tuesday me and my friend had our fun little ACNL Halloween sleepover. I had until 5pm to work on my thesis and JLPT stuff before we met up at the grocery store to get frozen pizzas and chocolate. At 6pm we started working through the Halloween event. After collecting all the stuff and getting all the tricks and treats we watched Rocky Horror Picture Show and Mamma Mia together. Then we went to bed. Such a special Halloween.♥

On Wednesday I studied JLPT with a friend, read a book for my thesis and did some more JLPT stuff. In the evening another friend came over to sew on the laces for her new pointe shoes. I managed to find a way to get DMC4 to work on my PC, which made me happier than a lot of things have lately. The CD version apparently has some old DX files on it so installing from the CD doesn’t work anymore. However some kind soul on the Steam community had found out that if you install the demo version of the game which has the updated files first, and then copy-paste everything aside from the directX folder from the CD and install the full version it would force the game to install using the new updated files. And it worked like a charm! I played through the first couple of missions and for the rest of the night we watched The Sims 4 videos together. My friend also played through a bit of Persona 5 before we went to bed.

On Thursday morning I read my last physical actual thesis book that isn’t an e-book, and took care of some work business before my friend woke up. We spent the day playing some more DMC4, and I tried to get back to DMC5 for the first time since highschool probably. It was a lot of fun since I left it at a boss fight and had no idea what the controls were anymore, but we figured it out and it was a good laugh. I love the DMC games and I’ve missed them. In the evening my apartment complex had a meeting where we decided to continue the process of building a new house on our backyard. Out of 11k votes we had 7k present and out of those 6k voted for the continuation of the project - so yay for that! There were arguments for nature and the preservation of our backyard but honestly the monetary benefit from selling the right to build on our backyard is going to be so great it can’t be ignored. Also, we get a much nicer backyard with actual greenery and plants and recreational stuff in the new plan so... Yes, we lose a few pine trees and an area for drug abusers to hang out and dogs to poop on but in return we get a nice and maintained backyard in stead of a concrete parking lot. Anyway after the meeting I came home to watch some JLPT videos and chill out on the sofa.

On Friday I had another JLPT study date, after which I did some planning for next week and worked on my JLPT vocabulary. Then I had ballet from 4 to 6pm. Luckily I had mum’s car because she had to go to a two day training so I got to drive to ballet and back. After showering and eating I helped my friend out with Gracie’s fashion check in ACNL and spent about 5 hours in total watching Sims 4 videos again. I guess it was really needed. I’ve also been watching a lot of Miraculous Ladybug lately now that season 2 started airing. I’ve watched the entire first season and the first 3 episodes of season 2. Again, harmless cute fun that keeps my mind off other stuff.

Yesterday was a cleanup day. I did two loads of laundry an finally got the rest of my guy’s remaining clothes and his duvet+pillows washed. Also I emptied out all of my laundry basket, which felt damn good. Finally. The damn thing was bursting at the seams. I also dusted, vacuumed, washed the bathroom and went to the store to restock on carrots for the bunny and something to cook with for next week. Then I put up a moderate amount of Christmas decor as I swapped out my Halloween stuff. I also put up my Christmas lights. The tree isn’t going up until the end of November but at least I have something set up now. I picked mum up from the train station at 4:40pm and folded some laundry before going to our music video choreo rehearsal at 6pm. I got out at 8:30pm -ish, and came back to shower, eat, watch Grease 2 and iron out some clothes and towels etc.

This Sunday morning has been great. I love sleeping in and making some special breakfast that I can eat in front of the TV. Today I made banana and blueberry pancakes. Now I’m over here blogging and thinking about what to do with the rest of my day before I have to go to work. I really want to play DAI or MEA but until my payday on the 15th I can’t afford to order the new PSU, so in reality I won’t be playing those games until the end of November depending on how long it takes for me to get the thing and swap it. I’m just praying to everything that it works... It would be so much fun to spend Christmas break stress free and with video games.. For now I might just play some Stardew Valley for a few hours, then eat and go to work.. Hopefully I can get to today’s Mischastream with more success than last week.

I’ve got 6 weeks until Christmas break and 4 weeks until the JLPT exam... Yikes.