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lady-of-ocs · 6 months ago

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GUESS WHO'S DONE WITH THE SEMESTER AND READY TO BINGE ALL OF HAIKYUU OVER CHRISTMAS

THAT'S RIGHT! IT'S ME! I'M THE BITCH WHO'S DONE WITH THE SEMESTER AND READY TO BINGE ALL OF HAIKYUU OVER CHRISTMAS! I researched and wrote a five page paper in the span of about four hours today and that was the last thing I had to do because my acting professor cancelled our final meeting (he cancelled a lot this semester so I am not surprised...)

ANYWAY! I got through to episode 17! So let's talk about some stuff.

Kageyama is the least subtle guy on the team and I love him for it. Bless that socially awkward boy. I kind of love that he can acknowledge that Oikawa is good (because he is) but he's not letting it get him down anymore. YOU'RE DOING GREAT, SWEETIE!

Tsukki!!!! First of all, top tier comedy of him hitting Hinata's diarrhea pressure point and then just walking away. Hina's probably fine. I also love that he actually took Akiteru up on his offer! You can clearly see that this is great practice for Tsukki and it's very satisfying to watch him grow. Also, good old sibling bonding! It's what I live for!

I know I just saw them literally yesterday but IT'S NEKOMA AND FUKURODANI! MY OTHER BOYS! I'm glad that they're consistently scattered in throughout the show. They're all so great and have such nice relationship with the Karasuno boys that it would be a shame if we only got to see them during things like the training camp or official games. ALSO NOT KUROO AND DAICHI BREAKING MY HEART WITH THE "the dumpster battle is the last chance for us" THING. DON'T FUCKING REMIND ME, KUROO! I'VE LITERALLY ALREADY WATCHED YOUR DUMPSTER BATTLE AND IT MADE ME EMOTIONAL! DO YOU WANT ME TO CRY AGAIN, KUROO?

I enjoy training montages very much and I was really excited to see Yamaguchi seemingly pull off a serve against Nishinoya. I can't wait to see him successfully jump float serve in an official game. I'm going to have to take a lap around whatever room I'm in when that happens.

YES I DID SPEND TWO MORE EPISODES BEING THIRSTY FOR TERUSHIMA. I SAW HIM AND WENT "oh my god it's the sexy guy." Spent the entire Karasuno/Johzenji match kicking my feet twirling my hair every time he did something cool.

Stepping away from Terushima for a minute- THE BATHROOM SCENE. H E L P. I'D SEEN IT BEFORE BUT I DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS THIS SOON IN THE SERIES. SOMEONE SAVE HINATA LMAO. I like Iwaizumi a lot, honestly. One of the people who will call Oikawa on his bullshit and who can actually get through to him. Also AONE! MY BIG QUIET BABY! I LOVE HIM! I LOVE HIM MUCHO (oh by the way I got a 57% on my Spanish final lol).

I like Tsukki's new glasses! I like them even more because 1. Akiteru gave them to him and 2. because apparently he's had them a while and Hinata's been consistently complimenting them every day. Underrated hilarious duo.

So, back on the Karasuno/Johzenji match. That was a fun one. You never really doubt that Karasuno is going to win (even if you don't already know the spoilers), but it's still an entertaining match. I have massive respect for Johzenji's manager! She whipped them into shape better than their coach could! And I'm really glad that by the end of the game, they realized her value and gave her the appreciation and thanks she deserved. They also had some wild plays during the game and those were fun. Their failed attempt at a synchronized attack at the end of the first set had me rolling. And I enjoyed seeing Karasuno use their whole arsenal of weapons against Johzenji! I knew nothing about volleyball (other than the basic stuff they teach you in P.E.) prior to watching this show but now I'm invested. I perk up every time volleyball is on at the gym.

FANTASTIC BLOCK, KAGEYAMA. NO NOTES. WELL, ONE TINY NOTE: DON'T BLOCK WITH YOUR FACE. In all seriousness, poor baby. I'm always glad to see Suga get to play, though! And I love that Yamaguchi was the one who shoved Kageyama away from the game so that he could get his nose checked out.

Daichi is a fantastic captain. You see that a lot, but it was really highlighted in the Johzenji match and it's been like that so far in the Wakutani match as well. I WONDER WHAT THE TEAM WILL DO WITHOUT HIM NOW THAT HE'S FUCKING DEAD-

Yachi remains a flaming homosexual (I see you looking at Saeko's boobs, girl) and I love her. This is my gay daughter, Yachi Hitoka, everyone.

THE SOUND THAT WAS MADE WHEN DAICHI COLLIDED WITH TANAKA HELP PLEASE- God, that was a terrible sound. And I know he's fine. I've seen all the "RIP dead Daichi" jokes. Daichi's only a little dead. BUT THAT ONE SHOT OF HIM JUST LAYING COMPLETELY STILL ON THE GYM FLOOR WAS NOT OKAY FOR MY MENTAL HEALTH ALRIGHT. BLOOD LITERALLY WENT COLD. THE LOOK ON EVERYONE'S FACES (barring Tanaka who is not taking this seriously) DID NOT HELP. I GOTTA WATCH THAT NEXT EPISODE BEFORE I GO HOME TOMORROW BECAUSE THE CLIFFHANGER OF DEAD DAICHI IS GOING TO KEEP ME UP TONIGHT.

Speaking of which, yes, I'm going to be heading home for break tomorrow! I've got about a month off, so I should have time to watch a lot more! I'm not totally sure I'll be able to keep up these big reaction posts, but I'll try! If I don't end up keeping them up, I'll make one when I get back! If that's the case, I'll see you all in the new year!

#haikyuu #kageyama tobio #tsukishima kei #karasuno #sawamura daichi #daichi is dead #RIP Daichi #hq #haikyuu rambling #lady rants and rambles

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nodalstudies · 1 year ago

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recent updates <3

i finished my first school session of the year last week! i got an A on my anatomy and physiology final 🥹 i’ve become more efficient and resourceful with studying now that i’m used to my program’s structure. love that!

other developments: i had free time after my session ended and literally wrote a research paper on how i’ve been exploring my sexuality/relationship dynamics using marvel names (peter, shuri, mj) LOL a girl has hobbies!

looking forward to the session ahead <3 it’s my last semester of doing gen ed. excitedddd

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finnlongman · 1 year ago

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hi, I just found your blog :)

If I may ask, how in the world did you manage to write entire books while also being a PhD student????

Is there a way to not let your PhD consume every waking hour of your life?? :') please tell me your secret

Heh, well, the first thing to note is that I'm in the first year of my PhD, and traditional publishing is slow. So the books I'm talking about right now -- Moth to a Flame and The Wolf and His King -- have been in the works since long before I started my PhD. I originally wrote The Wolf and His King in winter 2019, when I had a full-time job; I originally drafted Moth to a Flame during my full-time MA in 2020. So the PhD is only the latest thing they've had to compete with for my time and attention!

I've always been writing alongside everything else -- I wrote my first novel at 13 and I was writing the whole way through my school years, despite doing a million extra-curriculars. Honestly, I have no idea where I found the energy, but it got me into the habit of writing during lunchbreaks or in short bursts whenever I had the time, and while that's not my preferred way to work these days, it sure did teach me a lot. These days I've got two sets of edits and promo and admin, and the PhD, and my occasional side-gig as a bodhrán player in a couple of trad bands, and whatever other casual work I pick up (today I was invigilating exams), so it's always a balancing act.

But specifically, with these next two books: Moth to a Flame was largely finished before I started my PhD in October, with structural edits done; I was partway through line edits during the first month of my PhD, and then copyedits and proofreading after that. I was doing copyedits over Christmas, including on my phone during a family visit on New Year's Eve. I've been editing The Wolf and His King more recently, with structural edits also happening mainly over Christmas (working on Christmas Day, my favourite) and line-edits happening right now.

Balancing TWAHK with my PhD, or The Butterfly Assassin with my MA (since I sold it at the start of my second semester and that wasn't the best timing), has mostly been about speed and prioritisation. I'm lucky to be a fast writer and a fast reader, so I can get 7k of academic writing on paper in the course of a day or two and therefore keep the wolf (my supervisor) from the door while I run off and do line-edits. Doesn't mean I should, but it happens more than I care to admit. Likewise, I can (and regularly do) edit/rewrite a novel in the space of two weeks, even if that is also not sustainable.

But it's also about being open with my editors (and supervisors) about my deadlines -- e.g. we pulled line-edits for TWAHK forward to March, even though I only submitted structural edits at the start of February and there's often a longer gap, because I'm going to be super busy with PhD work in April ahead of a deadline at the start of May, so I knew I needed to get the bulk of the work out of the way. That means right now, I'm spending more time on writing, but next month, it'll be nearly all academic work.

On really good days I can do both, and usually write for 1-2 hours in the morning, work all afternoon, and then write again in the evenings (this is what I was doing in December with structural edits), but with chronic pain/fatigue and a changeable schedule, that's harder.

Mostly, though, I'm lucky that my adult books and my PhD are very closely related, so a lot of the research I'm doing for the books also feeds into my PhD, and vice versa -- meaning that a lot of the time, I'm multitasking. It was much harder when I was juggling The Butterfly Assassin and my MA, since they had nothing in common; I would basically just focus on one or the other at a time, and was very grateful that we got a slight extension for our thesis submission deadline because of covid or I don't think it would've been in on time.

Oh, and I also don't have a social life (thanks covid + disabilities) so there's that, too. And my house is a mess and I don't eat enough vegetables. But I don't have any caring responsibilities or dependents, and at the moment I don't have fixed hours/work obligations, so that's something.

As for how I used to write when I had a full-time job (and disabilities) (and a social life)... honestly I was definitely writing at work sometimes. And not just on my lunchbreak. 🤫

#answered #kirk-goes-to-gallifrey

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thefirstempress · 1 year ago

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Some background on The First Empress

So the following excerpt was going to be my original foreword for The First Empress. Last October, however, I was informed in a rejection letter that the foreword was too long (among other, more homophobic reasons for rejecting it). Then, when I looked up how to write a foreword, I found out that, at least in fiction, it's customary to have someone else write it for you. While Matthew Keville (@matthewkeville) was kind enough to write my new foreword, I kept the original foreword, and at a beta reader's suggestion I think I'm going to use it as an "About" page for my website. Content warning for background and personal history.

I think it was fall semester of 2002 at Boise State University. During one of my literature courses, the professor was highly impressed with my reading responses for Homer’s Iliad, particularly in regards to my observation that the story is in no way a conflict between good and evil. And I liked that about it. I liked that there were noble and ignoble characters as well as likable and unlikable characters on both sides of the conflict. In his notes on one of my responses, Professor Jim recommended that I read Thucydides’s History of the Peloponnesian War, which began my interest in ancient history in general and Classical Greece in particular. One of my college friends owned a lovely little coffeehouse/used bookstore for several years, and I bought many volumes out of her ancient history section.

In the late ‘00s, I developed acute depression/anxiety while working on my Master’s Degree in Literature. Though I somehow managed to complete my degree, my depression became so severe that in 2011 I had to step down from a teaching job I loved beside colleagues I liked, because I couldn’t function well enough to fulfill my duties outside the classroom. I decided it was horribly unfair to my students that they couldn’t count on me to do my part, so I walked away. I made the most painful decision I’ve made in my life and stepped down from a job I’d spent three years studying and training for.

My first successful step toward recovery came when I started writing for myself again. No more thirty-page theses, no more ten-page research papers written over the weekend, no more feedback on forty-to-sixty student papers. I typed up some story concepts and revisited some old stories that I hadn’t looked at in a decade. I started a blog, and then a side-blog, and then a Tumblr page to go with the side-blog. I even started a fan-fiction account that features mostly The Legend of Korra novellas and Star Wars one-shots.

During the summer of 2012, I wrote several chapters of a young-adult fantasy novel in a high- to late-medieval setting, featuring a young, somewhat Mary-Sue heroine whose wizened mentor was named Zahnia, the Chronicler—an immortal historian trapped forever as a nine-year-old girl. As I started to flesh out Zahnia’s character, I decided I wanted to explore her origin story, tying it in with the creation of the Tollesian Empire, where the story takes place. For National Novel Writing Month 2012, I began work on the first draft of The First Empress and spent over ten years tinkering, expanding, and revising in my free time. But the more I worked on the story, the bigger it got. George RR Martin once described a spectrum of writers, ranging from architects who outline and design the structure and foundation of their story before they start writing, to gardeners who plant the seeds of the story, then let it grow, expand, and develop organically. I’m very much the garden-variety writer.

And so the story kept getting bigger, both in my head and on paper. I fell short of the original 50K word goal by over 10K, but felt like I had a pretty solid start. By the end of that first NaNoWriMo, I knew that it was probably going to be multiple books, so I narrowed down what I wanted to include in Book I and started focusing on those story lines. The original story was to be two separate stories that converge at the end of Book I, with the main story focusing on the title protagonist, Queen Viarra, and the first year of her rise to power, while the background story focuses on Zahnia, the curse of her immortality, and her escape from her captors. In the original outline, Book I would end with our characters first meeting.

Even in the early stages, however, it was extremely difficult to reconcile the two stories. Viarra’s story was over twice the size of Zahnia’s and, for the most part, more exciting for my beta-readers. Zahnia’s scenes often felt like unwelcome interruptions, rather than interesting interludes, and were difficult to intersperse side-by-side with scenes happening in Viarra’s story. At some point in the process, I stopped trying to intersperse them and made Zahnia’s scenes separate chapters. While this worked better, there could be as many as four or five Viarra chapters between Zahnia chapters, and some of my readers pointed out that they sometimes had to go back and reread previous Zahnia chapters to understand what was happening in the latest chapter. I occasionally thought about taking Zahnia’s story out altogether and making it its own novel.

I made my ultimate decision on the matter in July of 2021 when I finally finished the first complete draft of The First Empress. The draft weighed in at over 206K words—which I knew was a lot, but I didn’t grasp the full size until one of my readers pointed out that in paperback format, that’s over eight-hundred pages! I decided almost immediately that the best option was to split them up into three books. Books I and II now deal entirely with the first year of Viarra’s rise to power, meeting Zahnia, her future chronicler, at the end of Book II. Book III is instead mostly about Zahnia’s origins, including her curse of immortality and her daring escape from the madmen who cursed her. This worked out wonderfully as it allowed me to break the revision process into smaller chunks instead of attempting to revise 800 pages in one go.

Though Zahnia isn’t physically present for Book I and only gets a single scene in Book II, I make sure she’s still present in spirit throughout both books. In homage to classic fantasy stories like Frank Herbert’s Dune or Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series, I include epigrams written by Zahnia at the beginning of each chapter. Additionally, all footnotes and appendices are also by her. Despite her unavoidable sidelining in what was supposed to be her origin story, Zahnia became something of an alter-ego for me, and I want readers to understand that she is still a foundational character in the series.

While brainstorming leading up to that first NaNoWriMo, I decided to put my studies of Ancient Greek history to use, basing the setting and culture on the late-Classical, early-Hellenic Aegean Sea and the surrounding regions. The culture, politics, and technology—both in how they begin and how they advance as the series progresses—are intended to feel similar to the cultural, political, and technological changes occurring in the wake of the Peloponnesian War through the rise of Kings Philip II and Alexander the Great and beyond. Indeed, Philip and to a lesser degree Alexander were both inspirations for Queen Viarraluca, my title heroine.

(That being said, I don’t tend to view any of my characters as being an equivalent of X figure from Greek history. I drew inspiration from many historical and fictional characters for my cast, but I don’t have a story-world equivalent of Socrates or Pericles or Leonidas or Sappho or Olympias or whoever.)

The setting, though, is less intended to feel historically accurate and more about feeling historically authentic. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a hobbyist historian who hasn’t taken a history course since early in my undergrad studies. Thus, all of my reading and research is unguided, and I have no idea how well my understanding and analyses align with contemporary views. Ultimately, The First Empress is an ancient-world period-fantasy that’s inspired by rather than entirely representative of late-Classical Greece.

Throughout the process, I loved playing with the ancient-world world-building and found perverse enjoyment in taking pagan gods’ names in vain, portraying ancient inventions as new and exciting technology, and treating pants as an unusual and barbarian garment. But as a fantasy, I of course included plenty of embellishments. Sometimes world-building is brainstorming how an intelligent warrior queen and her officers would attempt to adapt a hoplite-centered army to fighting in forested terrain, generally considered unfavorable to phalanx warfare. Sometimes world-building is giving a society based on the Ancient Greeks access to tea, despite zero evidence that the Ancient Greeks had anything similar to tea, all because my warrior-queen protagonist seems like a tea-drinker.

I tried as well to include neighboring cultures inspired by those the Classical Greeks had contact with. The Tollesians are inspired by Classical Greece—the Empire Pellastor and its allies being akin to the Attic and Peloponnesian Greeks while the Hegemony of Andivel and their allies are more like the Ionian Greeks. The Illaran League was originally inspired by the Ancient Illyrians but evolved into more of an Illyrian/Macedonian hybrid. The Gan are inspired by the Gauls. The Venarri are Phoenician. The Artilans are Achaemenid-era Persian. The Kossôn are Achaemenid-era Egyptian. The Wattasu are inspired by Classical-era Nasamones. And the Verleki are largely inspired by the Ancient Scythians. I want to emphasize inspired by, as I’m not an expert on any of these ancient cultures. I have no illusions that I didn’t make mistakes or misinterpret things. I also eventually hope to include cultures inspired by the Samnites, Germanic tribes, Kushites, and possibly even cultures as distant as the Han and Mayans.

Experimenting with ancient-world cultures and in particular with ancient-world sexuality has been some of the most fun I’ve had writing. The Classical Greeks were an openly sexual culture, openly bisexual and often polyamorous. Rather than gloss over their sexuality like a coward, I chose to let my characters embrace it in the story. In doing so, I quickly decided that authors who only write monogamous, heterosexual relationships are missing out on all kinds of wonderful and fascinating relationship dynamics. Queen Viarra is a lesbian, and nearly all of the other characters fall somewhere on a pan- or bisexual spectrum. Zahnia, meanwhile, is asexual, as is one of Viarra’s ambassadors. I have a transgender hoplite officer, as well, and I have other characters in mind for future LGBT+ representation. As bisexuality was normal and even expected in Classical Greek culture, I try to treat it as something normal in my stories as well.

Though so far only one person has asked me why I’d include LGBT+ characters when I’m not LGBT myself, my answer to them and anyone else is that positive representation is important. Louie, my therapist, shared an anecdote during one of our sessions back in 2021 and gave me permission to share with readers. He was hosting some friends of his family for a few days, including his childhood friend who is a lesbian. His copy of my manuscript was lying around, and he started telling them about my lesbian title protagonist who’s also a strong ruler and a formidable warrior queen. His friend was very curious and asked smart questions about the character and story-world. Louie told me that she almost teary-eyed asked him to thank me for writing the characters as gay. She apparently was thrilled not only at the gay representation from the leading couple, but also at the bi representation from other characters.

When a gay woman in her late forties gets teary-eyed at the inclusion of a lesbian couple in a period-fantasy novel, I think it’s a sign that this kind of representation is absolutely necessary.

On the other hand, there were other aspects of Classical Greek culture that I wasn’t as keen about attempting to portray. The Greeks at the time were notoriously misogynist, for example. Much of Greek culture viewed women as property. Athens in particular had all kinds of laws restricting women, including a truly heinous law specifying that female slaves’ court testimonies were only valid if they testified under torture. I did away with a lot of that in my story-world. Scythians, Illyrians, Nubians, Sarmatians, Lusitanians, Suebi, Gauls: plenty of ancient cultures had traditions of skilled huntresses, warrior women, women pirates, influential queens and noblewomen, and successful businesswomen. Philip II of Macedon’s first wife was warrior queen, and he allowed their daughter and granddaughter to be trained in the same manner. That the Classical Greeks couldn’t get with the program is frankly their loss.

As this is my story-world and my tale to tell, I saw no particular reason to carry on that tradition. Queen Viarra isn’t the only powerful queen in the story, nor is she the only woman-warrior in hoplite’s panoply. Though a certain level of misogyny exists, it’s on the level of individual characters or communities, rather than a cultural norm.

Why?

Because it doesn’t have to be a norm! It’s fiction! Misogyny and sexism don’t have to be normal! Racism doesn’t have to be normal! Homophobia and transphobia don’t have to be normal! I shouldn’t have to create a hateful story in order to meet some mouth-breathing neoclassicist’s concept of historical accuracy. One of the best things I learned from reading Effie Calvin and Garrett Robinson’s novels is that truly excellent and inclusive stories with engaging characters, world-building, and conflicts can be created without some need to incorporate real-world prejudices. And when these prejudices do show up in The First Empress, I try to set them up as criticisms of ancient society, rather than something I lazily included for some pretense of “historical accuracy.”

At least three of my beta-readers compared The First Empress favorably to George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. (To paraphrase one of my Tumblr readers, any fantasy with historical inspiration and more politics than wizards will draw Game of Thrones comparisons.) Even so, not only would I never assume to be in the same league as an award-winning fantasy author whose stories have sold countless millions of copies and gotten their own popular television adaptation, I don’t feel like Martin’s goals as a storyteller are at all similar to mine. His stories seem to place the most emphasis on shocking readers—and he’s unparalleled at it! My goal is to give readers a lot to think about. Hopefully I pull that off well.Plus, if readers can handle A Song of Ice and Fire… I think The First Empress might seem a little mellow by comparison.

Thanks so much for your interest in my book, folks. I hope you find my story and characters entertaining, interesting, thought-provoking, or at the very least enjoyable to read. Thanks for reading and take care!

#my novel #my writing #first empress

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fennthetalkingdog · 1 year ago

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I don't know if I'm in the minority on this, but I love writing essays. The feeling of choosing something that seems fun, getting to research it, organizing what you've learned in a neat and tidy way, and now having a random pocket of knowledge that stays with you for the rest of your life is something that I can hardly ever replicate elsewise. Some of my favorite hyperfixations have come from essays and other research projects that I had to do for school (like when I learned about LSD for a biology project on cell communication, or when I wrote a speech on neopronouns for a public speaking class)! And I miss so much having a class where I can just... do what I love, for credit! I haven't had a research class since my first semester and I'm feeling it 😔 One of my friends asked me for advice about choosing a topic and I got so excited at just the mention of a research paper that I started happy stimming hard, lol. I really should just write a paper on my own time, but then I'd need some executives to function for once, *sigh*.

#Atlas on here can verify lol but when I get a project on something I love? I get freakin annoying about it #I have classes that are fun and classes that aren't and I try to balance my semester schedules between them #but because all my Spanish classes are fun I'm not taking another research class until almost when I graduate #I'm *suffering* over here #This is why I wanna do research as a job so I can just make papers all the time #also if literally anyone is interested in my neopronoun speech I formatted the history section into a research paper form #and am ABSOLUTELY willing to share pictures of it (minus my name and stuff of course)#(pleeeeease someone ask I am searching for an excuse to infodump even if my knowledge is a bit rusty)#actually audhd #actually autistic #actually adhd #adhd #autism #college things

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gutterpede · 1 year ago

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Thinking about my modernisms art history class and how for the final we had to create some sort of map detailing any part of the material discussed in class, and submit it with an essay explaining and detailing your work. And even though the essay counted for like 2/3 of that final grade, I decided to collect aspects and details from the entirety of the curriculum and amass them into one massive unreadable map, to showcase how interconnected and complex history is.

Anyways here’s how I did it first I went over every unit and gathered names of artists, movements, historical events/conditions, and other influences, wrote down all of them and how they connected to one another, and made four different webs on transfer paper that layered one another

PS this is by no means meant to cover all aspects of modernisms or art history this is just what we looked at that semester. Also I miss research and learning with others. I guess I miss school. Whatever

#art history #research projects #idk a lot about tags.

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starblue2406 · 9 months ago

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Every year, the Colegio de Bachilleres in collaboration with ESRU organizes an essay contest. It consists of you doing a scrutiny based on four topics that they give you. Three of these topics are research topics and the fourth is to write some narrative writing.

In short, I participated in my last semester of high school, I had already planned to compete in order to leave in style, but it was my teacher of the subject “language and communication” who reaffirmed my desire to compete by giving a test to the whole class where we had to write a minimum of 10 lines on three topics that he wrote on the blackboard. He explained to us what each of the themes of the contest consisted of, in the last one, we had to write about something that had happened to us and relate it to a teaching that would help us as people.

He also offered us that if we participated, we would not have to do anything more than hand in a 250-word paper per week and write our text in the classroom. Basically I would get a free 10.

Everyone handed in their text and then revealed that this was a test, because the topics were the same as in the ESRU competition, which had only exempted the topic of “my story”.

Shortly thereafter, he had us do another activity and was calling one by one students who he considered had the potential to participate in the contest. One of them was me, he offered to be my tutor and encouraged me to participate in one of the 4 categories. I, of course, said yes.

The awards are exquisite. At each site there is a first, second and third place, as well as an overall first place for all sites.

First place overall wins an all-expense paid trip to Spain.

For each site, first place is a computer, second place a tablet and third place a speaker (to be honest, it's a little disappointing, unless it's a very good quality speaker or a good brand).

I of course even finished my text quickly, in a previous year I also wanted to participate, but I still had deficiencies with my writing, I didn't have a clear idea of what to write and there wasn't a tutor who really wanted to help (it was necessary to have a tutor, not only to help you with your work but also to enroll you).

On this occasion, I was crystal clear about what I wanted to tell, a story based on a personal tragedy and the Oscar nominated movie “Robot Dreams”. It is a story written as a fable.

My teacher was very helpful, even the text is written with the “sandwinch” structure (as we call it), which was to join my story told in the style of an essay that talks about friendship, but without having to explain all the allegories to the reader.

Yesterday the winners were announced on the official Colegio de Bachilleres website, I was excited, I handed in my work until the last day, June 14, (mostly because my teacher took a while to help me in the last revision since he was also participating in the teachers' category with his own work and that of other students) and finally, September 2, we see the results.

And look! I've been a winner on my campus. I don't know any of those classmates, it makes me sad not to see the name of a great friend of mine who also competed, but I won this prize for her too.

Don't get confused, everyone is sorted in alphabetical order, but they still don't say who came in what place, that will be known until September 30, where there will be an awards ceremony, where the winner of the trip and the winner of each place per campus will be announced.

Quote from the call for entries: “The jury may or may not assign three winners for each site, according to the quality of the work.

The names of the winners from each campus will be published in alphabetical order on the Colegio de Bachilleres website on

Colegio de Bachilleres website on September 2, 2024.

The overall first place winner will be announced at the Awards Ceremony. The

Award Ceremony will be held on September 30, 2024, at a venue to be confirmed.

At this event, the place obtained by each student will be announced, the corresponding prizes will be awarded and the name of the winner will be announced.

and the name of the overall first place winner will be announced.”

It is the first time that I put my writing to the test like this, I feel that this was the right time to participate and I am proud of my result and excited to know the great truth. Of course I will upload everything that happens in relation to this at a later date, including the award ceremony.

When it is September 30, I will tell everything that happened and I will also publish my writing so that you can know the text that has been the first of many steps in my journey as a writer.

#my art <3 #school adventures xd #the adventures of writing/artist #colegio de bachilleres

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regina-bithyniae · 2 years ago

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So I'm considering whether to go to grad school for econ. Could you offer any suggestions for, like, (classic) papers to read for an advanced undergraduate, the reading of which might help discern whether one has the aptitude/interest sufficient to go to grad school? esp. like, The Papers You Should've Read in Undergrad type papers

Starter warning: I did a masters of economics, not a full PhD. But I did strongly consider the PhD for a while and did research, and know people who did one (@powermonger please chime in), classmates who are doing one now, or dropped out of one.

I'd actually say you are looking at it the wrong way. Econ grad school is first a boot camp of Math/Microeconomics/Macroeconomics/Econometrics. My MA had this for one semester, in a PhD it's a year. This is not fun, and was where I decided I didn't want to go onto the PhD. I could handle the cycle of 10-12 hour workdays and then getting wasted on Fridays, but I didn't have any singular topic that I loved enough to commit myself to 2 more years of this plus research, and then the grind for tenure over.

The number one filter here is math. In undergraduate you'd need multivariable calculus, linear algebra, several courses of statistics (some of these should be part of any bachelors in econ). Econ grad school actually prefers math/engineering majors to generalist econ.

After the death grind, you move on to field-related coursework, which is more related to your specific area of study. This corresponds more towards reading papers and writing your own, delving into the datasets and doing your own causal research. This is more fun. After this comes writing your thesis proper - summer semester for me, or the later years of a PhD.

If you want to see what modern economics research looks like, check out the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and see the papers that go up. You can also try the Journal of Economic Perspectives (JEP) for more general-public readable introductions to research.

Noah Smith is a guy who got an economics PhD to be better at arguing online and has some pages:

Also check out /r/badeconomics and /r/askeconomics:

#econposting #schoolposting #careerposting

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mattspeak · 2 years ago

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Langblr Reactivation Challenge

Week 1, Day 2

Day 2: Write a list of goals you have for your target languages. Make both long term and short term goals. An overall goal could be to have the ability to talk with native speakers with ease and a smaller goal would be to finally learn that difficult grammar point that’s been plaguing you for ages. How will you achieve them?

I went ahead & dedicated space on the first page of my notebook for goals.

Long-term, I want to:

-Speak with native speakers

-Read research papers (regarding Central Asian politics & economics as well as linguistics)

-Read Uzbek news

Short-term, I don’t have much since I’m brand new. That being said, I want to:

-Introduce myself

-Learn sentence order

-Learn 30 common words

Overall, my goals with Uzbek lie in academics. I became interested in the language during a Central Asian history course I took last semester as part of my Asian Studies certificate program. I wrote a research paper surveying economic development in Uzbekistan during & after the Soviet period, which exposed me to the language and opened me up to learning more about Uzbekistan. Basically, I’m mostly interested in learning Uzbek so I can have access to more research & writing surrounding Central Asia (& Uzbekistan, of course).

Link to the original challenge post

#langblr #languages #language learning #langblr reactivation challenge

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swearphil · 2 years ago

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What topics did you do term papers on in school that you enjoyed researching?

thank you for sending this, friend!

during grad school, I wrote a paper about Ruth Hall by Fanny Fern for a 19th century American literature class a few years ago. I had fun with this paper because the author was also a newspaper columnist and I searched online through digital archives for her columns and for reviews on the novel she wrote. it was the first time I had ever done anything like that, and I just enjoyed seeing what she had to say and how people reacted to her book when it was first published in 1854.

the actually writing of that paper was An Experience. I did research and read scholarly articles for about a month, and then wrote all of it in the span of about five days I think? I wrote five pages a day to meet the 20 page requirement and turn it in on time. there was actually more I wanted to write about but once I hit 20 pages, I just wrapped it up. my professor ended up emailing me the following semester to ask if he could submit my paper for a department essay contest and I was one of the runner ups!

#asks #phoebenpiperx

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chanifesto · 1 month ago

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WHO's CHANIFESTO?

the swaggiest girl to ever rock your world duh

hi ! you can call me 𝑙𝑒𝑒 or 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑖, whatever your heart desires. i'm an '03 liner in university and– well, just read about it ;o

୨ৎ the basics

ALIAS: lee | originates from the second syllable of my name

SECONDARY ALIAS: chani

TITLE: swag master

AGE: 21

PRONOUNS: she/her

RACE: south asian

MBTI: infj-a

BIG 3: sag sun, cancer moon, taurus rising

HOGWARTS HOUSE: slytherin

୨ৎ my fandoms & biases

ult groups

ATEEZ: san (bias) | yunho (bias wrecker)

STRAY KIDS: bangchan (ult) | hyunjin (ult) | felix (bias wrecker) | han (bias wrecker)

୨ৎ fun facts

my username is a blend of bangchan's name [ chan ] and the word 'manifesto' [ festo ] = chanifesto

i’m currently studying a double major in psychology and health science.

i looove the rain.

i’m an anime enthusiast! my first one was devilman crybaby (yeah..).

i used to be an athlete (past tense, thanks covid). i played ice hockey and soccer.

very big on matcha and london fogs.

my favourite movies are interstellar and spirited away.

speaking of studio ghibli, BIG BIG fan of miyazaki. i carry nothing but absolute adoration and respect for his art.

i advocate for creative expression. i deeply, almost innately appreciate creative individuals. i love when people try new things, openly express themselves, especially through art, any kind of art (hence the hyunjin ult).

i cry whenever i hear a piano playing.

which is silly because i used to play the piano.

but i am a very emotional individual, i let myself feel all my emotions, so i guess it's quite on brand for me.

i grew up athletic, but also very creatively and artistically active! i used to sketch, draw, and paint. i am slowly getting back into it, while also developing some skills in photography and graphic design.

big potterhead! my favourite book is deathly hallows and movie is half-blood prince.

i stopped swimming before my lifeguard courses because i developed thalassophobia.

i have adhd.

music is my everything!!!

୨ৎ my road to storytelling

2015: magcon was at its prime. i had just turned 12 when i started my first fanfiction on quotev. gradually grew to two fics, both of which somehow did well despite being literary disasters. from there, i migrated to wattpad like every other emotionally unstable tween with delusions of writing grandeur.

2016–2017: the beginning of my wattpad era. i was deep in my 5sos phase, writing multiple fics for each member like it was my job (it wasn’t), all left unfinished. naturally. tumblr was also thriving, so i made an account. i didn’t use it very much.

2018: grade 9, second semester: the 5sos flame fizzled. maybe it was a high school thing. maybe it was the novel stimulation of new expeirences. either way, i decided i had my fill. unpublished everything on wattpad. forgot my tumblr existed.

2019–2020: the dark ages. aka my hiatus years. i wrote here and there for myself—meaning about five sentences total across two years.

2021: the year of draco malfoy (at least, for me). i consumed fic like it was my birthright, indulged in whatever i could. manacled became my muse and oxygen (all hail senlinyu). inspired (and very much unwell), i clicked the ‘write’ button on wattpad again during grade 12. tried to write amidst exam hell. spoiler, it didn’t go well. no further questions.

2022–2023: my first and second years of university. my writing? prolific. my genre? lab reports. research papers. literature reviews. my creativity heroically died, but i took a creative writing elective and wrote five personal pieces. sometimes i reread them for the gaiety.

2024: draco malfoy makes a comeback. i revisited my previous wattpad works and, stunned by what i thought was “raw talent,” i started writing again. this happened to coincide with mcat season. i was describing voldemort’s mouth as a vent when i should have been memorizing glycolysis (or perhaps gluconeogenesis? glycogenolysis? war flashbacks.).

2025: need i say more?

#⋆ . ˚ 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑏𝘰𝑢𝘵 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑓𝑒𝑠𝘵𝘰 . ˚ . ۫ ೀ #i like to yap

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aimeehfilms · 1 month ago

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Film Project - Script Supervising TWN, BC + W

The original plan was to be a writer on 'In Character' with my secondary role script supervising BC and Matriarch. However, with the news of what projects were greenlit, this changed everything. I could no longer write for this semester, which is something I had been solely focused on. Additionally, one of the other projects I was a part of also disbanded. Luckily, in my previous semester I had taken the role of script supervisor as well as writer. This meant that I had some experience in the script supervisor role, so when the announcement was made that some secondary roles will also now be assessable, I immediately chose that role as my option.

BC was greenlit, meaning I was still able to be a part of that project. However, it was not enough. I reached out to another group (W) that had a project I was very interested in, asking if I could be a script supervisor. I waited a couple days, and during that time, another group (TWN) reached out to me asking if I would like to join their project. Because of the no response from W I accepted, asking if I could be a script supervisor. They said yes and I was added to the spreadsheet with them.

The final group (W) got back to me almost immediately after I had accepted the second group (TWN), meaning I was now on three projects. This was more than I was expecting but I was excited to be on the projects. I would just have to get better at time management. I was also nervous as even though I had some experience script supervising, it was on a project I had written myself, so I knew the script inside and out. Navigating script supervisor on three more projects was going to be exciting, new and challenging.

I did research into script supervising and watched many videos about what is expected of me on set, what notes I should take and what I should be looking out for. Due to my previous experience on set as script supervisor, I also took camera and sound reports on set and this was helpful because in the end the camera and sound reports were lost/not fully completed, so it was useful I had taken some backups on set.

When planning for all three of these projects, I knew a script breakdown was important. I needed to know the script well, before the shoot. Therefore, I printed 2 main scripts out for each project I worked on. One for my script breakdown and the other for the tram lines/notes I'd be taking on set. I knew I needed lots of coloured pens and pencils with me so I brought my pencil case and my folder to store all the sheets of paper in for safe keeping. One problem I ran into was waiting for the final draft to be sent so I could be prepared for the shoot.

To break it up in terms of projects and timeline:

TWN - This was the first film to be made out of the three. Our filming period was over 2 days - 22nd March and 23rd March. We had a full crew meeting, which I joined online with a few others - the rest were able to join in person. We discussed the plans for the shoot and the shooting schedule was sent into our group chat. I immediately grabbed the schedule and wrote each shot into my notes. This was important so I knew shot numbers and descriptions. One issue I had was making sure the script I had was the most recent draft for when we did the shoot. I messaged the writer, just to make sure the draft on the spreadsheet was the most recent draft before the shoot. They messaged me back agreeing that it was the most recent so I printed two scripts out. I completed my script breakdown and gathered everything I would need into my folder. Also making sure to grab my lunch.

Arriving at the set, we assembled for a group meeting. The producer gave us a run down of the shooting schedule again, which was handy as it reinforced what I already knew to be true so I felt quite confident about the shoot. I asked where the best place on set for me to write my notes would be and found myself in the corner windowsill. I set up my humble abode and opened the shooting schedule up on my phone, making note of what shot/scene/slate/take starting on. I took out my extra camera and sound reports too.

I was later approached by the director, letting me know there had been a script change. They showed me where it had taken place, but when trying to find it in my own script I struggled. I asked them and everyone came to realise that I had the wrong draft of the script!! Which I tried so hard to avoid. Luckily, the crew gave me the script they had edited which I used for the shoot. It was a good catch before we started. This was such an important experience for me as even though I had asked if it was the most recent draft, perhaps I should have been more clear that I need to be involved in the emails/chats of getting the most recent draft in time before the shoot so I can be organised. I felt like as a 'secondary role' a lot of this communication was lost amongst all three projects. However, this was the only project where the draft I had shown up with was not the locked draft.

As shooting began, I made as many notes I could and tried to keep up with everything moving quickly. I had highlighted actions in the script to make sure I could watch for continuity. Additionally, some shots I got confused with as other shots were added not on the shot list. During our breaks, I found the producer and had a chat about the shots that I got confused by. This was easily cleared up and I was back on top of it all.

However, it became clear that the monitor was not working properly. This became very challenging as the monitor is a script supervisors best friend and I found it tricky to watch for continuity. Someone had to hold the monitor cable at a specific angle for it to work for a couple seconds before cutting out and back on again. The director and I sat near the monitor as best we could. There was one specific moment which I made note of involving a hand leaving a banister too soon on a specific line. One thing I wish I had done better, is voicing up when a line is changing in dialogue. I only seem to let others know when asked and this is probably due to my social anxiety. I improved at it the more comfortable I got with the people around me. Being with the director during rehearsals helped me a lot. I also made sure to ask the writer their opinion on certain lines being changed due to actors swapping words around. One line was made clear that it has to be how it is originally written. I made this clear in my notes, and when a mistake was pulled I made it clear to the director. Whenever, I checked in with the writer they agreed with me for the changed meaning with the changed dialogue. This again was made clear to the director and we tried to get another take. However, we found ourselves pushed for time. After the shoot, I helped move equipment up and down the stairs and to the car.

On this shoot I got used to making notes about different dialogue said in different takes. One thing I wish I made clearer in my notes is what exact take each line was said on, I gathered most of them but not all. Again, I did my best in the time and tried not to miss anything. Towards the end of the filming process we realised we were running out of daylight. Overall, it was a good shoot and I enjoyed it.

The next day, I emailed the editor all my notes typed up - the sound, camera reports, continuity, and schedule for each take.

A few days after the shoot, I met up with the editor and writer in the editing suite. There I handed over the annotated script to the editor, and filled her in on my short hand notes, explaining any important bits to watch out for.

BC - This was an interesting shoot to be a part of as it was set in my own flat. Filming took place over three days, 14th, 15th and 16th of April. The same planning process was involved, however, with this shoot there was no shooting schedule sent until the day before the shoot. I used screenshots of the documents on my phone to note down correct shots etc. Before the shoot, I helped print out some stuff for art department and I joined the full crew meeting before the shoot just to clarify info about the latest draft. I did not want to show up to set with the wrong draft like the previous project and had learnt from that experience.

Additionally, the writer let me know during the shoot that they would send me a scene breakdown of the script. Once I got hold of that I immediately added the notes to the script.

This project was very different to the last as a lot of the dialogue was improvised and the crew (director etc) were wanting/happy with this because it felt more natural. I had a conversation with the writer asking if they were okay with the lines not being how they are written and they said that it is fine and they do not mind whatsoever. This was quite challenging as I did not know how to script supervise dialogue when improvising lines. I worried for the editing process and continuity errors with dialogue, unsure on how to help combat this. This was mentioned in my notes to the editor.

During this shoot, the monitor was mostly working which was refreshing. I got to see the monitor for a lot of the shots which helped a lot. A continuity issue was the sweet bowl, which became a problem when the actor was meant to throw the bowl on the floor and it ended up in a different position each take. I tried to take some pictures of the framing for continuity and so did art department. Hopefully during editing there was a way around that - I made it clear to the editor in my notes to watch out for it.

Another issue was the position with the monitor was placed outside the room, with the door closed for sound. This meant that I missed what the director and crew were saying about each shot - which they liked or preferred, what sound was like etc. This made it more difficult for my camera and sound report notes, as I missed some. However, I knew camera and sound were taking their own reports and mine was just backup. I let the editor know in my notes that they would have to refer to those reports as mine were perhaps not as helpful compared to my last shoot. Luckily, I did voice to the crew that I need to hear what they are saying after the takes, so I then was moved into the room with the monitor and there were less issues.

Another challenging aspect which was different with this shoot was the jumping through different scenes while on the same take. This made it very difficult when I was navigating tram lines on the script, as it was cutting between two different places back and forth.

After the shoot, I again emailed and typed up all my notes to the editor and handed my annotated script to her on set.

W - The final film of the three. This was a really cool shoot to be on. The set was an underground nuclear bunker and the story was one I had been gravitating to from the start. Filming took place over three days, 18th, 19th and 20th of April, making my week booked out for film productions with only the Thursday free. On this production, the same planning took place. I messaged the writer, double checking that the most recent draft of the script was on the drive. Once I got confirmation, I printed 2 copies. I completed a script breakdown on one and kept the other for my annotated notes on set. One problem was I did not have access to the shooting schedule before the shoot, but everyone was organised on set and I was able to ask the AD to email it over to me.

The scenes were already divided up and each shot was labelled for each scene which made my job a lot easier. I saved the shooting schedule on my phone and had everything ready for filming. Before the shoot I helped art department set up IKEA furniture for the set and was fetching/helping to carry items while we were setting up. My only mistake on the first day was not bringing enough food or sun cream as I did get burnt.

During the shoot, I was right next to a monitor, which on the second and third day was huge, making it a lot easier compared to previous shoots. I was experienced with annotating missed dialogue or different dialogue in different scenes and I felt on top of those notes. I felt very useful when the director said the specific take they enjoyed and I had in my notes the exact dialogue that was said during that take. I could then explain to the director what dialogue we need in the following shot for continuity purposes and this was easily relayed to the actors, minimising the risks of error.

On the first day, I realised it was the first time I had been script supervisor on an exterior shoot. This became an issue when I was hit with some rain and lots of wind, throwing my papers about as I tried to take notes. Luckily, the director handed me their folder to try and lean the paper against (I left my folder in the trailer - whoops!). Every shot after this, I was there with my folder in hand. This helped me realise how challenging it is for exterior shots and taking notes. Next time when faced with an exterior shoot I will perhaps bring something to weigh my paper down.

Another unexpected part of the shoot was the goats and emu that came to greet us. One of the goats almost made a snack out of my note sheets so I tried to stay away from them.

Due to the writer mostly staying away from set, I was not able to ask their opinion on the ways the script was changing when filming. The director was happy so I followed their lead. Quite a lot of the script was changed or cut out in the end, sometimes it was difficult to keep up but I kept asking the AD or the director, what had been cut or what we were adding next to keep me on track. I'm glad I was able to voice this and not get left behind otherwise that could have caused a lot of issues in my note-taking. I feel like I definitely grew in confidence the more shoots I was on as script supervisor.

One part of the script I was adamant about was the green whistle, which I knew existed in the script and I spent ages trying to look for it as it had been passed around the crew and ended up lost. After finally finding it, I gave it to the actor. As he wore it in one scene it became something we needed in earlier scenes for continuity purposes. This meant that a shot that was not part of the shot list (but part of the script) was added. I'm excited to see this in the edit - fingers crossed.

There was one particular continuity error I was aware of before the edit and that was the end scene. In one shot, Ethan is bent over as he places the needle up his nose. In the next shot, Ethan is stood up with the needle already in his nose. I mentioned this error to the director during the shoot. They realised the mistake now too but it was too late to do another take of it so we had to push on. I included this continuity error in my notes to the editor, emphasising that this is something that will need attention.

During the shoot there was one particular potentially disastrous moment. The camera had not been secured to the tripod properly and the camera began to slowly fall over - crew had their back to the camera as it fell and I felt like I was watching it in slow-motion. Luckily, I had just entered the room and I loudly got everyone's attention, hurriedly heading over there to stop the camera from falling. We managed to catch the camera in time. This had my adrenaline spiked for the rest of the day.

One difference on this film was the long takes. The previous films I had been on did not have one long take. This changed the way I was doing continuity especially for dialogue as I realised that only one take would be used for it so most of the dialogue would be okay continuity wise.

After the shoot, I gave the annotated script to the editor and I helped art department disassesmble furniture and carry it up the tunnel.

The following day I typed up all my notes and emailed them also - see separate post as I hit limit for pictures...

This set was super interesting as it is quite a gory and disgusting film. I loved watching the production design and art process when making the disgusting food, seeing how it is created made it less disgusting for me and more intriguing.

Overall, with all three films I feel like I improved as a script supervisor. I now have more experience on different kinds of shoots. I wish I was able to voice up more during the early projects. Definitely something I'm working on/improved the more experience I had. I've learnt a lot from the different shoots. I think perhaps it would be a good idea in the future to not have the camera and sound report backups as although this is very helpful and came in clutch on a previous project, it allows me to focus more on what I should be observing which is continuity and dialogue. I feel like I would have had time to time each take as well on my phone and I would have picked up the sweet bowl in BC and final scene in W quicker and more efficiently. In the end, I enjoyed all the projects. I think W was my favourite due to the cool set and the experienced/organised crew involved. They definitely made my job a lot easier and everything moved smoothly.

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