#connie has a science research job

[aurorangen]

Perhaps it was Noah and Connie being there, but Renee was much more confident talking to Vincent. She began getting to know him better, asking about his hobbies and friends. And then came the awkward silence when she asked about his family.

Vincent excused himself and went to get a drink. Clearly, he did not want to talk about personal stuff to Renee, not just yet.

[mamasbakeria]

hey, what's your major again?

summary: my credible expert opinion on what the aot characters would study in university. what are my qualifications? the dozens of hours i’ve spent staring at my school’s program bulletin trying to figure out what i’m majoring in

genre | includes: headcanons, sfw, minor language, uninformed percy jackson reference (pls don't hate me if im wrong)

characters: eren jaeger, mikasa ackerman, armin arlert, sasha braus, jean kirschtein, connie springer, historia reiss, ymir, reiner braun, annie leonhardt

author’s note: had this in my drafts for months now. i just need to post it so it stops haunting me. might do the rest of the marleyans and vets in the future! lmk your thoughts, my only tumblr notifications are from p*rn bots, so i'd love to hear from real people lol. enjoy <3

eren: sociology and public policy, 4+1 program for a social work masters

there’s only so many times you can hear “you’re gonna be a doctor just like your dad” before you start to believe it. that’s why eren started out with biology on the premed track. the thing is, he really didn’t care for it. eren is really passionate about lessening equity gaps and is a firm believer in “if you want something done right, do it yourself”. this is why i see him making the switch to a double major in public policy and sociology. he wants to know about how society got to the point of perpetuating disparities so that he can fix them. but he also knows that the government fucking sucks and thinks its naive to expect policy change to be the only method of change. and like the maniac he is, eren is enrolled in a 4+1 program so he can get his master’s in social work when he’s done with his undergrad. he’s determined to graduate with both degrees in just 4 years though. rip his summers.

armin: international relations and military ethics, minor in communications or smth

everyone always says armin would study marine biology or oceanographic studies, but i honestly think that it’s a passion that he pursues on the side. he takes marine bio courses for his breadth requirements, but knows he’d end up hating the ocean if he spent the rest of his life studying it. he also strikes me as someone who would rather run buck naked into traffic than sit through multiple semesters of organic chemistry. armin was always a good public speaker, though, despite being a bit insecure. that’s why his speech and debate teacher during sophomore year of high school recommended model united nations to him. he was hooked after his first conference and now genuinely sees the path of international diplomacy as his calling. that’s why he’s majoring in international relations. his concentration in military ethics is something he tacks on in his junior year after taking some courses and publishing research with dr. erwin smith. he probably minors in communications because he can.

mikasa: forensic science

mikasa had no idea what she wanted to do when she started uni. she’s good at nearly everything. like never gotten a B in her life and is the student who the curve is based off of. but excelling in every environment you’re put in often means you don’t know what you’re best at. she knew deep down that she wanted to do something justice related like her childhood best friends did, but she’s no public speaker and has no interest in political reform. she was, however, emo in high school and heard a fair share of undertaker jokes at her expense. it wouldn’t hurt to look into right? as cool as the title sounds, morticians don’t make enough money for the job they have. fortunately enough, forensic pathologists do and mikasa looks good in a lab coat. she would never admit it to spare armin and eren’s feelings, but when they, as children, recreated the crime-solving shows mrs. jaeger always had on, mikasa always wanted to be the brains. so criminology and forensic science it is. (side note: she definitely joins the military and they pay for her education)

jean: structural engineering and industrial design with a minor in studio art

more than anything, jean wants to provide for his mom and knows he can’t guarantee a retirement of luxury for her as the freelance artist he wishes he could be. he’s decent at math when he tries and doesn’t hate physics, so he decided he’d give structural engineering a try for at least a semester or two. he wasn’t expecting to get much from it, to be honest. he had a plethora of backup plans waiting for his supposedly inevitable distaste for engineering, but he found that he didn’t hate it at all. someone once told jean that he had the makings of a great leader and he didn’t believe them until he started taking the lead on design projects and producing incredible results. his only qualm is that he just doesn’t get to be as creative as he wanted to be. that was easily rectified by an additional major in industrial design and a minor in studio art. he’s unbelievably busy, busier than he anticipated when he started his post-secondary journey, but he’s content and there’s nothing some extra coffee can’t solve. 

sasha: environmental science and sustainability

sasha spent her childhood ankle-deep in mud and fighting her way through forest thickets without a compass. an upbringing like that doesn’t leave your spirit, no matter how far into the city you go for school. so sasha’s always been passively passionate about the environment. that passiveness became significantly more prominent when part of the woods she grew up in was cleared out to build an industrial complex. it was then that she started researching and writing petitions about preserving wildlife and making environmentally conscious decisions. her work actually got her the scholarship she’s on (because god knows it wasn’t her grades). and she genuinely loves what she does, so why wouldn’t she keep learning about it? the environmental science and sustainability program at the school is small, but tight-knit and known for churning out changemakers. sasha knows she’ll be one of them one day. just hide your plastic straws from her, okay?

connie: computer science and chinese

stick with me here okay? everyone expects connie to be a douchebag marketing major whose hardest assignments are graphing functions and making posters on photoshop, but he’s a lot more invested in his education than he looks. don’t get me wrong, connie has always struggled academically, but that’s because so much of early education is pre-determined. he performed way better when he could choose what courses he took. it’s kind of like percy jackson being dyslexic in english because he was wired to read in greek. connie can’t keep his eyes on a history textbook for shit, but will gladly sit in front of the c++ code on his pc for hours. he doesn’t even get mad when he realizes that he was missing a semicolon. connie loves how versatile of a future he could have with a compsci degree, because, let’s be real, he could never survive in a typical office environment. definitely takes a bunch of chinese classes and doesn’t realize that he has enough credits for it to be a minor until his second to last semester.

historia: political science with a minor in international relations and child development

historia is a lot like eren in the sense that she knows her time is best spent doing hands-on work in the fields she cares about. she realizes this sometime after reconnecting with her estranged father and volunteering at the orphanage she grew up in. but now that she’s publicly associated with a powerful political figure, historia doesn’t get to do what she wants, only what is expected of her. that’s how she ends up on the pre-law political science and public policy route. the nickname “ms. president” that connie and sasha give her only further reminds her that she’s heading down a path she never wanted for herself. after lots of encouragement from ymir, historia decided to take child development courses on the side. even if she doesn’t take on the full minor, she’s taking some classes she cares about. maybe she’ll find use for it someday. at the very least, it’s her first step in becoming the most selfish girl in the world.

ymir: data science and business management

ymir is smart. much smarter than she presents herself to be, almost as a form of protection. nobody expects much of someone who is aloof, so it makes it easy to slip through the cracks to remain safe and comfortable in the shadows. business management is notoriously low commitment and easy to skate by with. guaranteed internships, post-graduate employment, and so on. To anyone who doesn’t know ymir well, it’s perfect. but they have her mistaken, ymir will do as little as possible to go as far as possible. sure, she can live comfortably with a business degree, but it could be better with a little bit of data science in her arsenal. she’s intelligent enough to pick up on it, and determined enough to make it her bitch. yeah, academia is a money-sucking pipeline into the capitalist hellscape, she doesn’t believe in it yada yada, but at the end of the day, ymir’s gonna get the bag. so what if she’s gotta sleep through some stats classes to get it?

reiner: behavioral economics

reiner’s mother had convinced him his whole life that getting a high paying job would fix their lives and bring his father back. believing “perfect grades lead to a perfect life” made high school tough for reiner; gifted kid burnout is no joke. it really messed him up. he wasn’t sure if he could withstand the pressures of university, but here he is. reiner was never allowed a therapist, so he figured pursuing psychology would, at the very least, give him some answers and be a good pathway to a medical degree. he loved getting to understand how people work and why they act the way they do, but something was missing. he found out what it was when a guest lecturer spoke in his economics class. he knew making the switch would be risky, it’s a new field and his current career options are really only research, academia, or government, but the interdisciplinary study of behavioral economics is calling reiner’s name. 

annie: biomedical engineering and kinesiology

annie’s entire life revolved around her father, including the injury he was never able to heal from. the one she gave him. he’s claimed to be over it, she’s forgiven, but annie will never feel like she’s earned that forgiveness until she gets rid of the problem entirely. how is she going to do that exactly? with biomedical engineering. she has years of hell in front of her, especially with her concentration on biomechanics, but she doesn’t care. annie will throw herself into her work to get the results she wants. she takes the highest amount of credits possible every semester so she can graduate early. you’ll most likely find her chained to a study cubicle at the library at all hours of the day and running on 2 hours of sleep, but it doesn’t faze her. she tacks on a minor in kinesiology because it makes sense and she had most of the credits for it anyway. and as if it couldn’t get worse, she probably TAs for a thermodynamics course or something crazy like that.

© mamasbakeria 2023. do not repost, translate (without permission), or modify

[tastydregs]

OpenAI Says Stonemasons Should Be Fine in the Brave New World

A new paper released Monday says that 80% of the U.S. workforce will see the impact of large language models on their work. While some will only experience a moderate amount of impact on their day to day workload, close to 20% of those working today will likely find about half of their tasks automated to some extent by AI.

The paper published by Cornell University was led by several OpenAI researchers working alongside a researcher at nonprofit lab OpenResearch, which is chaired by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. With the release of OpenAI’s latest version of its LLM, GPT-4, the company is already promoting how it can score well on tests like the Biology Olympiad, but this report also analyzes likely applications for AI that are capable with current LLM models. AI already has text and code-generation capabilities (even if AI developers are still trying to convince people to not trust content their AI creates), as well as the routinely discussed implications for art, speech, and video.

All in all, the paper strays from making any declarative statements about job impacts. It instead analyzes jobs that are more likely to have some “exposure” to AI generation, meaning it will take 50% less time to complete a job’s common task. All in all, most high-paying white collar work will find AI pushing into their fields. Those in science or “critical thinking” fields, as the paper calls it, will have less exposure, pointing to the modern AI’s utter limitations in creating novel content. Programmers and writers, on the other hand, are likely to see quite a lot of exposure.

Though the paper describes this “exposure” to AI without identifying if it has any real labor-displacing effects, it’s not easy to identify the companies who are already looking at AI as a way to reduce labor costs. CNET’s parent company Red Ventures has been held under the microscope for its use of AI-written articles, after it was discovered how inaccurate the articles often were. Earlier this month, CNET laid off around a dozen staffers. According to The Verge, the editor in chief Connie Guglielmo became the company’s senior VP of AI content strategy.

Of course, there’s a difference between white collar workers playing around with ChatGPT and the workplace demanding workers use a chatbot to automate their work. An IBM and Morning Consult survey from last year said 66% of companies worldwide are either using or exploring AI, and that was before the AI hype train took on more coal at the end of last year with ChatGPT. The survey said 42% of that adoption was driven by the need to reduce costs and “automate key processes.” You can very well argue that programmers and writers are often engaging in that previously mentioned “critical thinking” as much as any other subject, but will some managers and company owners think the same way if they’re told AI can help them reduce head counts?

And of course, your average blue collar job won’t see any real impact. The paper makes special mention of a few of these jobs, making oddly specific mention of derrick operators, cutlers, pile driver operators, and stonemasons. Those without higher education degrees will experience less impact by AI, and some of these unaffected jobs, like short order cooks or dishwashers, are already far on the lower end of the pay scale. It’s still unlikely that these jobs will be re-evaluated to finally think about offering these workers a living wage, even if other jobs may suffer.

And as these models improve over time, the effect will only grow. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has mentioned some more light-touch regulation, but the President Joe Biden administration’s own Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights mentions people should be able to “opt out” of AI systems in favor of human alternatives. The bill of rights does not really mention any ways to mitigate the impacts AI could have on the labor market. The report notes the “difficulty” of regulating AI because of its constant shifts, but it shies away from any noted general thoughts lawmakers could follow.

Sure, the paper doesn’t analyze the likelihood of a job being substituted by AI, but it doesn’t take much to get there. The paper describes most jobs by their simple “tasks” rather than their application, which is a problem when you’re trying to discuss whether an AI can perform at the same level as a human. Simply put, at this point, AI-generated content is nowhere near surpassing the quality or originality as human-created content. 

A report from the US-EU Trade and Technology Council published by the White House last December mentions AI can potentially “expos[e] large new swaths of the workforce to potential disruption.” The report mentioned while past automation impacted “routine” tasks, AI can impact “nonroutine” tasks. Now it’s up to employers just how much “nonroutine” tasks they think they still need actual humans to perform.

[strawberryerwin]

what they major in at college | modern college!au

eren

ugh something like anatomy or physical training

he wants to do physical therapy but can’t decide if he wants to be a physical therapy assistant or continue his education and get a physical therapist degree 

has a student job as an intern to one of the sports team’s physical trainer

mikasa

miss girl is a gender studies major!! 

looooves researching and collabing with her professors

jean

*eye roll* i just know he is an undecided business major with no real plan

no i will not elaborate

levi

social work

just wants to help

but might change majors a few times first

armin

forensic science

allows for use of both science and psychology as well as presents unique challenges so i think this is perfect for him

will feel like he is learning how to bring closure to families that have lost loved ones

erwin

everyone says history which is definitely an option BUT

i could sooo see him wanting to be a high school band director or something so like music education with a focus in instrumental music

he would do choir for an extra curricular credit

sasha

she reminds me soooo much of a girl i had a theatre class with so i gotta say sasha would do well in a film/acting history theatre type program

also she is loud so her voice would carry so well 

hange

unpopular opinion but i see hange in something like psychology rather than bio-med, going on to get a doctorate and being a psychiatrist 

bc she likes to pick at people’s brains and know how why they think the way they do

connie

studio art 

likes to play around in the photo lab and take pics of action figures and stuff

hates nature photography

[erwinsvow]

𝐚𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐰𝐨

note: part two to the college headcanons! part one can be found here! i had a lot of fun writing these and i hope everyone enjoys them :) teacher/student dynamic warning for zeke and hange's, and i guess bullying for annie's :/

𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐨 𝐠𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐫𝐝

the very definition of kind-hearted frat boy who doesn’t fit the stereotype he’s been assigned at all

starts off with accounting before realizing he hates math, moves into business management and marketing

the linkedin profile is absolutely popping, 500+ connections and details about every club and organization he’s ever been a part of

the friend that helps everyone find internships and fixes their resumes while offering helpful advice and not being condescending… anyways so that’s how you meet porco

he works at the career center 100% and does various coaching/prep help, and you, pieck’s friend, are in desperate need of an internship

so you’re complaining to your friend as usual, when she tells you to stop by the building and ask for a “pock”

so you do just that, walking in and asking for “pock” and porco is a little stunned by this pretty stranger calling him by a nickname reserved for his close friends, and even then he just barely tolerates it

but he doesn’t want to correct you, especially since you’re being so sweet and he can tell you need some help

so a meeting at the career center slowly turns into facetime calls to review applications and last-minute edits, stopping by your dorm to help you fill out paperwork and walking together to mail it out

i have a feeling porco doesn’t wanna be too forward, and he thinks he’s being very aloof and casual, when he really just seems oblivious

and you cannot tell for the life of you if he likes you or he’s just being friendly since you’re close with pieck

finally after you land the internship and won't have your normal excuse to spend time with him, you get the guts you've been searching for

you tell him about the position later in the day, stopping by the center for hopefully the last time

"by the way, my number's on my resume if you're ever gonna ask me out."

leaves pocky-boy flustered and red and scrambling to ask you out, and you have been happily dating since

𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫

oh boy

conny is a very typical college kid in the sense that he will sleep through every 8 am class he has, blow off class to go wait in line for the nacho bar, and has adopted the mantra ‘c’s get degrees’

but he is an extremely lovable education major with a focus in history

rarely seen without his shadow sasha, but now that she started dating niccolo, she thinks that conny could use a relationship too, and that it might do him some good to be with a funny, down-to-earth person

thus begins the most grueling two weeks for every girl on campus, as sasha hunts down girls that she thinks would be a good match for her best friend

this includes airdropping a photo of conny to the lecture hall with the caption “would you date this man? serious inquiries only”

creates a fake tinder complete with a google form to narrow down the options

however, none of this is necessary because sasha bumps into you in the smoothie line and causes your triple berry blend to go flying

she helps you clean up and idle conversation leads to you talking about dates and so forth

“well, i’d love to set you up with my best friend? how do you feel about a blind date?”

yes, conny met you, the love of his life, on a blind date set up by sasha with a stranger

it’s one of those funny stories that people don’t believe when you tell them, because how ridiculous is that, but you both think it’s perfect since you get along so well and it made all the waiting worth it

bonus: double dates with sasha and niccolo! fondue night at their apartment, going to the arcade and having to lug up sasha and her food baby while niccolo parks the car, just overall a grand time :)

𝐳𝐞𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫

zeke yeager, ph.d. started his new job at university with one rule in mind: absolutely no illicit affairs

he also coaches the club baseball team, because why not get involved on your campus

he really believes that he’s gonna stick with it too, despite the overwhelming number of students who come to his office hours with questions that his less handsome teaching assistants could answer

but no, he doesn’t want to earn a reputation as that professor, and so he heads into the new semester with absolutely no lingering thoughts of an exciting little dalliance to get him through the monotonous days

he knows his huge lecture classes would always come with a few pretty students, but it’s the smaller, upper-level psych class he’s teaching when he meets you for the first time

zeke has you all figured out, or so he thinks. sitting in the front row, raising your hand for questions he wasn’t expecting anyone to actually have an answer to, neatly handwritten notes in a color-coded notebook. he wouldn’t peg you for the type to jump and take the risk by starting a relationship with a professor.

but he soon realizes that he didn’t have you as figured out as he thought he did.

you avoid the gaggle of freshmen during office hours by scheduling meetings instead, sometimes right before class, coming to him with two cups of coffee and a wide smile that actually had him fooled into thinking you were here for academic reasons

this facade quickly fades though, because after a semester of interactions with you and getting more and more comfortable with each other, to the point where coffee orders are memorized and it’s zeke rather than professor yeager, you’ve had just about enough

he knows he’s fucked when you come visit him at practice for the baseball team, bringing him a drink and engaging in conversation while the players watch their coach flirt with you

he’s especially fucked when he realizes he’s looking forward to practice just because there’s a chance you’ll stop by on your way to your next class

you submit your final paper early, nearly a week before it’s due and of course the first in the class to do so, and waltz into his office the next day with another steaming cup of his favorite drink

“you submitted your paper pretty early, you know.”

“i know. i also know that it means i’m not your student anymore, so if you were going to make a move, now’s the time.”

no, he definitely had underestimated how much he knew about you.

𝐦𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐬𝐚 𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧

mikasa is a forensic sciences major and is still debating on the minor- she’s torn between criminal justice or history like armin.

she loves her major classes, but she just wants something else interesting to look forward to as well, so armin suggests sitting in on a couple classes early in the semester and getting a taste for it.

so you don’t really think twice when she claims the empty seat next to you on the first day of classes, smiling politely and paying attention to the professor. you do notice, however, that she’s not writing anything down or looking at the syllabus, leading you to strike a conversation on why that is.

she explains herself and then before you even know it, the lecture ends and you spent the last forty minutes talking to mikasa about anything and everything.

she’s sitting in on another class tomorrow, and absent mindedly invites you to come along, to which you agree all too quickly, because why wouldn’t you

numbers are exchanged, times are fixed, and mikasa leaves wondering why she’s so excited at the idea of sitting with you in class again.

you two hate the history class she had chosen, with the professor droning on and on and you being focused entirely on the conversation you’re having with mikasa

until the professor kicks the two of you out for not shutting up, that is

you’re both laughing hysterically once you reach the hallway

“i’m gonna have to discourage you from doing that history minor if that’s what all the classes are like.”

“well, i have to do criminal justice so we can have that class together, anyways.”

𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐭

true to form, annie goes into one of the most difficult majors: cheg. definitely flies through intro courses with straight As and minimal effort, but that’s also mostly because all she and bertholdt do is study

reiner tries his hardest to get her to go to a party every once in a while, but usually to no avail because she always has an exam to study for

you’re a tutor, and honestly, you’d say you were pretty good at your job. you can answer questions and explain reasonings fairly well to confused students. but when annie comes to your office hours with some complicated problems and she’s asking for explanations that you just don’t have, you literally feel your face burn with heat for the entirety of the time she’s there

long story short, your first encounter is embarrassing, to say the least. you’re stumbling over words as you try to look through your old notes and piece together an answer for annie, who you cannot even look in the eyes.

anyways, she leaves eventually and you want a hole to open in the ground and swallow you up, but at least she won’t be back next week, right?

wrong.

miss leonhart doesn’t know how to express her feelings any better than you, so her way of flirting is spending time with you in the tutor center as you fail to answer her questions time and time again

you want to scream at her to stop coming because she and you both know you’re not helping either of you with this

but also you really don’t want her to stop coming because you don’t have any other ways to see her outside of class

both of you reach your wit’s end on the same day, her coming to you with the absolute easiest problems she could find in the textbook, and you with every intention of asking her out to dinner

she opens her book, and you reach and close it quickly

“unless this is the only way you know how to flirt, something has to change now.”

𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐳𝐨𝐞

dr. zoë teaches, just, way too many classes

we’re talking multiple chemistry labs and upper-level research courses as well

you’re just a ph.d. student doing rotations as per usual, and you’ve heard the comments from students senior to you about dr. zoë, who makes every student in rotation say hange instead of the formal way you’re used to

you’ve heard everything from crazy to genius and everything in between

what you weren’t expecting was… so good looking, and young? and comforting? and talking about all the things that you didn’t have the guts to bring up with other people, like how you always feel a little left out in the field and that you think no one cares about your research interests that much—a lot of stuff that you find yourself pouring out to hange on your very first day in the lab

you’re wondering why it’s so easy to talk to them, and why none of the other rotations ever felt this comfortable

and then you realize you’re spilling your guts to someone who probably doesn’t even care, and has way more to deal with on their plate than a ph.d. student with imposter syndrome

so you’re apologizing right after you’ve finished, when you’re met with the warmest look and a reassuring hand on your shoulder

it’s so easy to fall after that, with weekly meetings and regular check-ins, and you know it’s wrong to have this strange crush on your superior, but hange really feels like the one person you can count on here

you hide the crush in favor of getting the mentorship you desperately think you need, but it’s not long until you’re onto the next rotation and the next lab’s work is even closer to the stuff you love

you hate the way you feel, that you’re not gonna have any reason to keep in touch and you never even got to explain how you feel about them—and that you didn’t even get to experience hange’s energy because she was always listening and helping you out

it’s not until you get a text the night before your first day in the new lab from hange, filled with reassuring words and asking for a coffee date later in the week to talk about how it goes, that you realize just how well hange understood you

𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫

last but not least, miss pieck is double majoring in french and public health

absolutely obsessed with her majors and loves the subjects, but works herself to death to keep up with it all

you don’t even realize that the pretty, studious girl you’re seeing in the library all the time is the same girl you spot with some of your friends from class

pieck is as oblivious as they come. you invite her on study dates after you two are introduced by reiner, invite her to get coffee after a particularly late night of studying, pretty much start spending most of your days together

you can’t help but be disappointed that pieck doesn’t see you in that way, because you’ve slowly been falling head over heels, but you accept that maybe it just wasn’t meant to be, and you still love the friendship you two have

it takes a while for things to click for pieck, but they do right as the semester eases up

once exams are over, you two decide to go to these famous parties porco and reiner never stop talking about

it’s not the usual scene you’re comfortable with, but what’s wrong with letting loose a little, especially after midterms? no harm in having fun, right?

wrong again! you definitely get plastered way too quickly, and eventually pieck takes you to a room to settle down

drunk confessions of love aren’t usually the way to go, but you can’t help but reveal everything you’ve been feeling for the last few months when pieck is taking care of you in your current state

you definitely wake up hungover and ignorant to last night’s shenanigans, but you’re in your dorm, with a bottle of water and ibuprofen on the nightstand, phone plugged in and shoes off

pieck comes back with breakfast, coffee and your favorite pastries, and checks up on you

“so.. about last night..”

“i’m so sorry, did i throw up on you?”

“no, but you did say you were in love with me. was that just a drunk thing, or is it a sober thing too? because i think i’m in love with you too.”

[feralaot]

In a modern setting, would the characters go to college, go to a trade school, or go straight into the workforce? What would they want to do as a career?

funny thing is I go to a trade school and I still don’t know shit about trade schools. I’m gonna add the military as an option here btw cause some of them have that vibe

AOT characters + education and careers/goals

no warnings

modern

eren: he’s a law dropout :/

mikasa: wants to be a nurse, is currently an exhausted med student

armin: became an AG in the navy after graduating, went back to university to get an associate’s and bachelor’s in paralegal and legal studies while in the reserves

jean: he wanted to start a band but ended up getting a degree in criminal justice (reluctantly) and became a forensic detective. eventually he wants to be a private detective but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t still want to be a musician

connie: business dropout, became a swim coach. don’t ask me why I just think he would be a coach of some sort

sasha: took culinary at a trade school and opened a restaurant with niccolo afterwards. the gang hangs out there on weekends

historia: went to school for psychology, or as she calls it, the “I don’t know what I want to do but I think I need to go to school” field. she actually started enjoying it and wants to be a forensic psychologist 

ymir: went to a trade school for art in hs and became a tattoo artist after graduating. still does it and loves her job

levi: he wanted to get into business but figured he’d be too antsy for it so instead he got a master’s in mathematics and became a professor

hange: studied biology, switched to chemistry. they’re a research chemist and professor at the same uni levi works at

erwin: double majored in history and education after high school and works as a history teacher at the same school as zeke. (they have a feud over who’s the better teacher)

reiner: went to a trade school for carpentry and metalwork, has a career in ironworking and does carpentry jobs on the side

bertholdt: went to school for journalism, now works in the film industry building sets, props, and doing special FX make-up. still does journalism on the side

annie: well, she got a bachelor of science in geology and is working towards becoming a field geologist. (right now though she’s a rock climbing instructor. close enough)

porco: criminology in trade school during hs, double majors in political science and history. doesn’t know what his goal is, kind of just going with the flow and working his way up

pieck: wants to go to college for animation and art. she's always been super into cartoons and wants to make one of her own eventually

zeke: enlisted in the army right after graduating. double majored in history and linguistics then became a high school social studies teacher that picks on his students 

[natromanxoff]

1984

ROYAL FAMILY MAN 

A Profile of Brian May

HE HAS the reputation of being quiet, thoughtful, serious - in fact, something of an intellectual. Brian May was a student of physics at Imperial College, London with ambitions to work in astrophysics when, at the age of nineteen, he initiated a course of events which was to change the shape of his career dramatically and, ultimately, to give rise to Queen.

The year was 1967 and May decided that he would like to try to form a group. He put a note on the College noticeboard advertising for other student musicians. One of those who replied was a certain Roger Meddows Taylor. Together with vocalist, Tim Staffell, Brian and Roger formed a band called Smile.

In spite of some local success, Brian was tempted to throw it all in and concentrate on academic studies in research astronomy after gaining his first degree in May 1968. Instead, however, he took a job as a maths teacher at a London Comprehensive School until Roger came across a young man calling himself Freddie Mercury, who also had ambitions to be in a successful group, which he wanted to call... Queen. Brian at once realised the potential of their combined talents and from that day on his interest in science waned rapidly.

Whatever Astrophysics may have lost, the gain for music was immeasurable.

From the very outset, the Brian May guitar sound was unique and quite unmistakable.

The story of May’s home-made guitar is now well known. His own personal design ensured the creation of an instrument with which he felt the sort of complete empathy and understanding impossible with a mass-produced model.

If the sound is extraordinary, so is Brian’s method of playing - using old sixpences instead of plectrums.

“I’ve always been interested in music from the earliest days,” says Brian. “I remember I used to go around singing all the songs that I heard on the radio.

“I never knew what the words meant but I sang them anyway. I also remember I used to have a great crush on Connie Francis.”

Even though May is far from being the sort of extrovert stage performer epitomised by Queen’s vocalist, he is by no means the sort of guitarist who hides in the shadows, plays the notes and then clears off for the last pint before the pubs shut.

The adrenaline thrill that kicks at the back of the skull whenever the lights first come on in the auditorium and the audience emerges from the blackness still works on him like a drug.

“It’s when I see everyone waving their hands and stamping their feet and generally moving around that I think back to just a few years ago,” he says. “No one knew us then and nothing was really happening. The music was there, it’s just the audiences who make the difference.

“The differece between playing a sound check and playing in front of a live audience proves it. There’s a world of difference in the way you feel about the way you’re playing. It’s the audience that does it.”

It was Brian who penned the very first Queen single, “Keep Yourself Alive”, which was released in 1973 and was promptly ignored by the mass record-buying people.

Since then, he has been responsible for many more compositions, including such notable songs as “We Will Rock You”, “Fat Bottomed Girls”, “Save Me”, “Flash”, as well as the “Starfleet Project” mini-LP, which he recorded with Eddie Van Halen.

Although Queen has come in for criticism from some quarters for playing around with too many styles of music, Brian dismisses such accusations. He believes that, for any group to remain fresh and vital, they must be prepared to change, modify or even totally discard their former musical ideas.

“We never felt that we would repeat a formula,” he says. “The closest we ever came was with ‘A Night At The Opera’ and ‘A Day At The Races’. Those two albums were very similar. But that’s just because we couldn’ stop. All that very heavily-arranged stuff came out in one lot - those two LPs you could treat together. But I think every step before that and afterwards was a risk to some extent.”

Considering that Brian lists such notable axemen as Rory Gallagher and Van Halen amongst his favourite players, didn’t he object when, largely under the influence of Freddie and John, Queen started moving increasingly further away from the sort of heavy rock which had characterised their early recordings and towards the more funky sounds of songs such as “Another One Bites The Dust”?

“It’s funny,” he says, “It’s a different world. Initially it was very hard for me to come to terms with it because when I started growing up as a guitarist, all the guitar playing I wanted to get away from was that soul stuff. I felt I didn’t want the guitar to be a backing instrument. So my first reaction was to say that I didn’t want to play it. But then as you become more exposed to it you see it in a different light.

“Gradually I became accustomed to it and realised that there was something there, even though I’d rejected it for a few years.”

Being a family man with two children, the strains of recording and touring are amongst the least pleasant aspects of the music business for Brian.

“To some extent I do feel pressure,” he admits, “This business destroys your family life quicker than anything else I think, so I feel insecure in that way.

“It’s very hard to be strong, to rise to all the pressures and to rise to what is expected of you in an environment like this.”

So how do personal pressures and concerns affect relationships within the band?

“The relationship gets very strained sometimes,” he says, “I got very worried once that I was going out on a limb and that the rest of the band didn’t really approve of what I was doing.

“It happened on a track of ‘A Night At The Opera’ - Good Company. I spent days and days doing these trumpets and trombones and trying to get into the character of those instruments.

“The others were doing other things and they’d pop in from time to time and say: ‘Well, you haven’t done much since we last saw you...’

“Generally, however, if it comes down to a genuine musical argument, we tend to see eye to eye in the end. We all know where we’re going, it’s just a question of how we get there which is argued about.”

The path of true rock music has not always run smooth, however, as Brian will admit if pressed...

The arguments which the group have has in the past have been, he concedes, “quite heated.”

“We’ve learnt how to stop,” he adds, “We don’t get to the point of blows any more as we did a few times in the past. We know each other well enough to know which way the argument’s going to go. A lot of things can be unsaid yet understood...

“I think each of us thinks of leaving quite a lot. But we all know that even though we might get our own way if we left, we’d still lose something. We’d just lose more than we’d gain at the moment. It’s a stimulating environment and because we don’t always agree it’s good for us.”

There have been many rumours at many times that Queen were on the verge of a final split. Often fuelled by the evidence of such adventures, it is certain that these rumours will once again be dragged forth when Freddie releases his solo album in January.

Brian, however, foresees the danger of such a split and clearly has no ambitions to break away from Queen.

“If you split up, then you lose your vehicle,” he observes, “It has a certain balance of talents, a name which people identify with and warrants them giving your records at least one play as opposed to throwing it in the bin.

“If you look at most poeple who’ve split off from a successful group, they very seldom find a situation that’s either commercially successful or personally satisfying. Getting your own way doesn’t always make you happy in the end... We always fight, we always have done, but in the end it’s been good for us all.”

[lifeinkinder]

Holy crap I think I figured out where some of my uber negative back to school attitude is coming from.

I think it's tied to ttc.

Last year, I was actively trying. Tracking and doing the thing with my last attempt being in November.

Then I paused to switch drs back to my original RE and I was supposed to have a summer of trying and I was really hopeful about a pregnancy.

But then my cycle was off and fucking Connie happened. And now all this stuff with my mother.

And it feels like it's never going to happen because either I use my savings (and a bit of credit) to pay for my medical bills from surgery or I use my savings (and credit) to pay stuff for my mother. I can't do both. But I have to have a $0 balance to see my RE because it's elective. So I can't see her without paying the balance from surgery.

All that to say, that last year at this time, I felt super hopeful about science baby and where I was at and this year it feels like this thing I've been working and researching and saving for is just never going to happen because other stuff keeps happening.

She (my mother) told me today that she thinks she'll be out of work for 3-6 months, but that the PT doesn't think the dr will ever clear her to go back to working in fast food because of how many hours she's on her feet. I selfishly wanted to tell her that I can't pay everything (except for her car because my sister and her husband are driving it as their main car and I said I wasn't paying the payment and insurance for a car they were using) for 3-6 months or longer so she has to have a plan. But I didn't say that. I kept my mouth shut. But y'all she has to have a plan because I can't do this forever. Even with a 2nd job....I mean I could do it pretty indefinitely with a second job, but I don't want to because I could save and climb my butt out of debt with a 2nd job and right now, I'm paused for placements even though I just got re-licensed and was actually getting calls.

She moves into her new apartment on Friday. And her current landlord (dickface mcgee) told her everything has to be pristine to get her deposit back. Bro, she's lived in that house for 7+ years and y'all have done what amount to almost no interior maintenance even when something has been asked for. So nah, it's not in pristine condition. It's got a shit ton of wear and tear.

Anyway, this has been like 3 posts in one. Because I am a mess.

[c-atm]

Fighting Flirty:Sparring

First, never let it be said that Steven Quartz Universe and Connie Yasha Maheswaran do not take their responsibilities seriously, because they do.

They really do.

In terms of Steven, it's not uncommon to see him up and about Beach city or Little Homeworld, just checking in to see how everything's going. It's not obscure to hear about him visiting Homeworld and seeing if any gems want to be a part of a new settlement on earth or trying to help gem-kind integrate with the galaxy...Opposed to hollowing it out. It's an exhausting job but it's worth it.

For Connie, along with her college work and responsibilities to her family; the young woman has made herself indispensable to both Homeworld and Earth, thanks to her partial (slowly becoming full-time if funding comes through)  directorial position at research and development. Combing through results reports of current experiments, proposing and conducting new ones, updating successful ones and reworking previous failures for future successes. All for the dream of uniting and advancing both humanity and gem-kind through understanding, teamwork and technology.

Though, nothing is easy and while Era 3 is peaceful...It’s relative. There are threats out there that would like nothing more for everything Steven, Connie and their allies (Human, Gem and otherwise) built, to be destroyed. Which makes such things as the dojo like 'room' of Little Homeworld R&D's sub-basement, relevant even now..

Created via gem magic similar to the gem temple, with it bamboo like floors that was a football field long, walls adorned with melee weaponry of all types and have it's own artificial atmosphere to match the actual weather, the room has been a perfect way to keep from overworking.

It was made to give both gems and humans incentive to keep up with the physical aspects of their life, while trying to change the world through science.

Some slept in it as it drowned out a lot of the sounds within R&D, others use it as a place of meditation, while others use it for its intended purpose..

Thus times like this are a normal occurrence.

"Ok, Heartberry, " Steven called out as he hopped in place dressed in a pair of yellow trunks and white tank top. Wrapped around his knuckles, wrist, palm and fingers was athletic tape, same with the ball of his feet, ankles and heels. A topknot held by a blue band. " How are we gonna play this?"

"I'm gonna kick your ass and you're gonna love it."

Steven scoffed out a laugh as he turned around to the source. "AWWOOOO!" he gave a wolfish whistle, "You just might be right. Starting with mental warfare?"

"Battles are won before they are fought." Connie sagely teased.

"Sun-tzu? I wanna say Sun-tzu."

"Sun-tzu, indeed Mister." Connie smirked. "I am impressed."

"That's my aim...So, I'm guessing that little number is to ensure your victory." Steven looked up and down her form.

"Well that, and your gaze over me." Connie flirted as she stretched a bit, snickering at the hungry eyed hybrid.

Her outfit was very simple. A royal blue halter top leotard, a pair of mid thigh, yoga shorts of the same color with red trim. She too wore athletic tape in the same way as Steven, and had her hair in her normal braid, with a pink scrunchy at the very beginning of it.

"You didn't have to do all that just for my sight. You could have worn your normal Kalaripayattu attire."

"Yeah, but it's way too hot in here for those.. They’re kind of weighted and they hold sweat." She gave him a playful stance, her hands folded behind her back as she stretched. "This is much lighter and sweat drips off my body."

"Plus, a lot more distracting. Gonna have to watch where I grab you."  Steven noted with bitten lips.

"Are you complaining? Cause your tone..It doesn't match your face, Mister." Connie gave him an accusative side-eye.

"Just taking notes. Beautiful, wonderful,  sensual notes. Don't wanna make a...Mistake"

The small husk in his tone made Connie toes flex. "Oh, I'm sure you would enjoy that." She licked her lips.

Steven nodded with a smirk, "Happy accidents, though I can't be blamed." He grinned darkly, "You effectively cut down the number of ways I could pin you."

Connie nodded hand on her hips as she stretched back. "That's the point, making it harder for you to win."

He walked over to her grabbing her over the waist, getting a giggle as she rested her hands on his chest "Well, l already have you in my arms, right?" He teased before blowing gently on her neck.

"Bi~iisky" She felt herself tremble under his air, giggling in pleasure. "It's already sweltering in here…Making me hotter, isn't fair." She melted running her hands slowly through his hair.

"I just wanna make you sweat." He whispered playfully in her ear.

"You're certainly an expert on the matter..." She breathed deeply as she pulled him closer, her eyes trained on his topknot.  She sighed feeling his hand run up her back, to her shoulders, caressing her nape.  

"Your touch always makes me...Nope!" Her eyes widened as she pushed him away leaping back herself. Holding the back of her head, feeling her scrunchy still in place. "You cheeky biscuit."

"Can you really blame me for a preemptive strike."Steven responded with a laugh at her blushing face. "After all battles are won before they're fought, right?"

"Don't you dare spit the art of war back at me!" Connie stated as she marched towards him, eyes ablaze in determination and competition.

"It's true though, right?" Steven walked towards her looking smug." Besides, you were the one who was eyeing my top knot. Can you blame me for making a move?"

In the center of the sweltering dojo, the two stood. The only light in the room being noon sun, that gently graced the room and them through blinded windows.

The only smell being the slight sweat coming from them and the humidity of the room itself.

The only sounds being the very faint machinery from one of the labs on the floors above and below and their own breathing.

"So, how do you wanna do this Heartberry?" Steven offered dipping close to her face.

" Same as always, first to retrieve their hair piece, or make the other forfeit, wins." She stood still and slightly parted her lips. in preparedness.

“Starting with a kiss?" he teased as he cupped her cheeks.

"Any other way to do it?" She cupped his own, pulling him closer.

Steven chuckled before she took his lips with her own. passionate, loving and telling. their tongues twisted as their lips brushed, and teeth gently nipped at each other. Their faces burning hot from the emotion and both inner and outer heats as slight moans and whimpers slipped out. They broke the kiss opening their eyes in tandem, giving each other a giggle of bliss, resting their foreheads on together.

"No Diamond state. Quartz strength is ok." She pecked his lips.

"No pressure points. or crushing blows." He returned her peck a bit more tenderly than hers, making her purr with a nod.

"Good luck." They shared one last kiss before slipping into a ready stance.

Steven's stance was unorthodox, with a lower center of gravity, his left foot in front of his body with his right pointed to the side and his hand waist height by his side.

In opposition, Connie's stance was similar to her sword stance. Her body lowered, her left foot pointed forward in front of her with her right following.  While she held her hands in the same positions she would if she had her sword.They were open palmed, held straight up as if acting as blades themselves.

The two stood in smirking silence for a moment, before Steven stepped forward expecting Connie to step back. He was slightly surprised to see her left hand shoot forward towards his hair, causing him to skip back out of her reach.  He scoffed as he returned to his stance  

“Chu. Chu. Chu.”

Steven nodded his head at Connie’s kissing taunt, sucking his teeth. “Really, ok.”

Connie chuckled as she  moved closer, shortening the space in two steps . She  evaded a grab at her hair by shifting her body to the left before throwing a left jab to his chest only to be blocked back by his forearm. She followed through with a right palm to the body which was met with his own palm, resulting in a responding clap as they interlocked.

Steven took another swing at scrunchy with his free hand and was parried by Connie knocking his wrist upward with her own, before ducking an attempt at his topknot. He smirked mischievously as he swept the back of her knees, causing her to fall on her ass.

“Nice move.” Connie praised him with a grimace as he helped her up to her feet. Rubbing her butt when she was up.

“Thank you.” He gave her a healing kiss, taking the pain away and enticing a little pleasure, releasing her hand and stepping back a bit before getting in his stance. “ You’re ready?”

Connie nodded before sliding into her own.“ Whenever you are, Mister.”

Unlike before, there was no waiting between the two. Steven missed a sidekick toward her hip as she dropped into a split, smiling up at his dumbfoundedness.   .

“Impressed” She teased, her chin in her hands as she bent forward on to the floor. giving him a flirty grin.

“That and a little hot.” he breathed deeply “ Have I ever told you I love your body control.”

“You have...showed me a few times too.” She chuckled. “Always nice to hear and with that being said.” She spun her body around tripping him off his feet, while she kik-up to hers. She smiled a bit worryingly at how he landed on his back. “ You ok?”

“ Come on, I’m sturdy and you know that.” Steven gave her a reassuring grin as he climbed to his feet and slipped into his stance. “ Ready to continue when you are.”

“That’s my man.”

Steven couldn’t help the blush and the feeling of pride towards the adoration in her voice and gaze as she got in her ready stance.  That quickly changed to alertness as Connie shot forward with a jab toward his face and stopped an inch away, as he put up a guard with his left arm. Only to feel her palm collide with his left side causing him to yelp in surprise and take a step back as she gave chase, putting him on a complete defense as Connie kept up the assault; attacking with quick, precise hits against his blocking.

Connie cocked back ready to steal his top knot.  She grinned as left hand shot  forward ready to grasp victory, and to lose balance when he slipped to her right side  and feel the pop of his knuckles on her back.

“ Hey!” She turned around tying catch him only feel two more pop on her thigh and hip. “ Hmmph! She turned again and felt a nip on her neck “ Oh no you don’t!” she chuckled before backing away and being chased by Steven.

“ I’m coming, Connie. You can’t run!” He taunted as he took a playful swipe at her waist.    

“Yes I can!” Connie responded as she continued to evade and block by each swipe. “But I won’t!”

Steven was surprised when she dipped very low to the floor and moved forward, passing his grasp, grabbing his arms as she stood and pulling him to a kiss. Steven felt himself melt temporarily forgetting the current situation and kissing her back, his hands clasping.

Giving Connie the moment she needed to grab his tank top, sweep his feet from under him, and pinned him under her straddling him and never breaking the kiss.

"Ooh.You really got me falling for your kiss." Steven joked as he broke the kiss, tickling under her arms, making her laugh and release him. He nipped her nose before  rolling to the side and pinning her under him, his knees against her thighs keeping the spread open as his hand held hers down.

"Cheater." Steven reprimanded with the devil's grin.

"I prefer the term, tactician." She responded in kind. "Shouldn't wear such a grab-able shirt."

" Ohh! Really? " He nipped her neck, making her squeal in laughter.

"No.. Not that!" Connie struggled to get away from the affectionate assault. Pushing against his hands as she tried not to melt under him. "You won't break me, Universe. My will is a strong as my…",

She was interrupted by his nips becoming a bite and suckling.

"Hhhash~Hmmmm." She felt her body relax under him." No….This is ...So sweaty and hot and nic--I mean unfair."

"This is strategy." Steven teased in her ear, watching her wither in pleasure and slight embarrassment.

"Not gonna surrender!!!." Connie roared as she raised her hips off the floor.

In a feat physiological mastery, Connie lifted him off his feet as she tossed them both in a somersault that resulted in Connie straddling Steven just below his chest with their hands still interlocked

"What was that?!" Steven stated in dazed amazement. That soon was coupled with an excited caution as he looked up at her domineering gaze and grin. He gulped when she licked her top lip, hungrily. The way the light gave her a casting shadow didn't help either.

"Tenacity, determination, years of physical conditioning, constant healing both magical and not.. "Her voice was cool and direct. She got close to his face with a predatory sneer. "And the need to make.." She kissed and sucked on his bottom lip causing some trembling.

"You.." She trailed down to his windpipe, her voice getting more seductive as she let go of his hand.

"Yield." She stated as she moved lower straddling his stomach and squeezing his sides with her calves, bringing her free hand down to his exposed gem.

"Ooh.. that's  so.." He brought  his head back as the pleasure of her mouth on his throat and the cool tender touch upon his gem racked his body. "This..this is much. torment..:

"Oh.." She taunted as he kissed him. "Are you gonna break under me?"  She rubbed his gem with her palm as if it was being polish, making him moan into her mouth..which in term made her follow suit.

"No." He growled in defiance as his free arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her in to deepen and take the lead of the kiss.

'No..No no.. I'm not losing to him!' Connie raged inside fighting the want to melt. Rubbing his gem with more affection taking care to give each facet attention, while turning the drawn out make-out to a battle of nips and quick pecks.

"Give in to the affection." Connie ordered as she kissed his trembling lips, the pleasurable feeling of his hand moving to her seat, causing her heart to race.

I want to.. really I do but.. " He pinched her hip causing her to yelp in surprise.

"Hey now! That can wait.-" .

"No,  it Can't!" He stole a kiss before rolling her over to the side.

The two broke the kiss, breathing deeply, before chuckling.

"So..can this be considered training?" Steven asked, feeling how red his lip was.

"I think it's good grappling and resilience training." Connie chuckled, "Though.. I don't know if I have a high resistance to you and your affection."

"Says the one who threw me off guard with a kiss and then rubbed my gem." He retorted, bringing her into a cuddle.

"It's my game plan. The perfect Steven game plan... Weaponized love."

Steven arched an eyebrow at the prideful woman."Really?"

"Yup." She dug into her pocket to pull out his blue hair band. "See, I won."

Steven checked his head with his free hand and true enough, his topknot was gone. "Mischievous  Minx", he teased before digging into his trunks and pulling out her pink scrunchy.

"When!?"  Connie demanded tapping his chest.

"When you let go of my hand to mess with my gem." He spoke proudly.

"Ha, you lose! Got it before I tossed you over." She grinned at his dumbfounded face.

"What?! When!"

Connie blushed before she sat up rubbing her neck. "While you were giving me such a good time on my neck. I slipped it off with my teeth." She said with a boast.

Steven pursed his lips before giving in to his pride. "Such an amazing partner I have." He stood on to his feet, before helping her up as well.

Connie nodded. "Of course. Anything less than that is not permitted."

"Now is that so." He grinned, pulling her close.

Connie rubbed his cheek, giving him a loving gaze. "You give me your all and more, everyday Mister." She answered matter factually, before giving him a peck on his forehead. "And you deserve what you give. Just glad that it's me who gets your adoration and gets to give it back to you."

Steven pursed his lips in disagreement. "I don't know, it seems like I'm the lucky one in that scenario. " He teased resting his foreheads on hers.

"Boy, I will fight you on this.” Connie gave him a toothy, amorous side grin, folding her hands upon his nape.

“Oh really?” Steven snicked as his voice dropped to a seductive baritone.”

“Uh-huh.” She laughed.

“Well we’re in a dojo, Berry” He gave her a kiss “Bring it on.”

“Ok Mister, you asked for this” She ‘warned’ as she led him down to mat, ready for another round of sparring.

[thisblogisalsoboundforglory]

WHAT I HAVE BEEN READING LATELY

Kage Baker’s Company Series

In the Garden of Iden

Sky Coyote

Mendoza in Hollywood

The Graveyard Game

The Life of the World to Come

The Children of the Company

The Machine's Child

The Sons of Heaven

The Empress of Mars

Not Less than Gods

Nell Gwynne's On Land and At Sea

Black Projects, White Knights: The Company Dossiers

Gods and Pawns

In the Company of Thieves

Ø  Science Fiction written by a woman with Asperger’s. Wildly uneven. Main protagonist is female, but there are lots of POV characters, male and female.

Ø  Big ideas.

Ø  Lots of adventure, some action.

Ø   Small doses of humor.

 Neil Gaiman

Good Omens (with Sir Terry Pratchett)

Neverwhere

Stardust

American Gods

Anansi Boys

The Graveyard Book

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Ø  Neil’s books are a road trip with Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell and a baggie full of sativa.

Ø  Ideas are incidental. The Milieu’s in charge.

Ø  Adventure happens whether you like it or not.

Ø   Cosmic humor. The joke’s on us.

 Connie Willis’s Oxford Time Travel Series

Firewatch

Doomsday Book

To Say Nothing of the Dog (and the novel that inspired it – Jerome K. Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat)

Blackout/All Clear

Assorted:

The Last of the Winnebagos

Ø  Connie loves her historical research. Blackout/All Clear actually lasts as long as the Blitz, but anything in the Oxford Time Travel series is worth reading. Doomsday Book reads like prophecy in retrospect.

Ø  One idea: Hi! This is the human condition! How fucking amazing is that?!?

Ø  Gut-punch adventure with extra consequences. Background action.

Ø   I’d have to say that Doomsday Book is the funniest book about the black death I’ve ever read, which isn’t saying much. To Say Nothing of the Dog is classic farce, though. Girl’s got range.

Neal Stephenson

Snow Crash (After the apocalypse, the world will be ruled by Home-Owners Associations. Be afraid.)

Cryptonomicon

Anathem

Seveneves

Ø  Neal writes big, undisciplined, unfocused books that keep unfolding in your mind for months after you’ve read them. He’s a very guy-type writer, in spite of a female protagonist or two. Seveneves, be warned, starts out brilliant and devolves into extreme meh.

Ø  Big. Fucking. Ideas.

Ø  Battles, crashes, fistfights, parachute jumps, nuclear powered motorcycles and extreme gardening action. Is there an MPAA acronym for that?

Ø   Humor dry enough to be garnished with two green olives on a stick.

  Christopher Moore

Pine Cove Series:

Practical Demonkeeping

The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove

The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror (Okay, yeah, Christmas. But Christmas with zombies, so that’s all right.)

Fluke (Not strictly Pine Cove, but in the same universe. Ever wonder why whales sing? They’re ordering Pastrami sandwiches. I’m not kidding.)

Death Merchant Chronicles:

A Dirty Job

Secondhand Souls (Best literary dogs this side of Jack London)

Coyote Blue (Kind of an outlier. Overlapping characters)

Shakespeare Series:

Fool

The Serpent of Venice

Shakespeare for Squirrels

Assorted:

Island of the Sequined Love Nun (Cargo cults with Pine Cove crossovers. I have a theory that the characters in this book are direct descendants of certain characters in Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon.)

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal (So I have a favorite first-century wonder rabbi. Who doesn’t?)

Sacre Bleu

Noir

Ø  Not for the squeamish, the easily offended, or those who can’t lovingly embrace the fact that the human species is pretty much a bunch of idiots snatching at moments of grace.

Ø  No big ideas whatever. Barely any half-baked notions.

Ø  Enthusiastic geek adventure. Action as a last resort.

Ø   Nonstop funny from beginning to end.

 Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London Series

Rivers of London

Moon Over Soho

Whispers Under Ground

Broken Homes

Foxglove Summer

The Hanging Tree

The Furthest Station

Lies Sleeping

The October Man

False Value

Tales From the Folly

Ø  Lean, self-deprecating police procedurals disguised as fantasy novels. Excellent writing.

Ø  These will not expand your mind. They might expand your Latin vocabulary.

Ø  Crisply described action, judiciously used. Whodunnit adventure. It’s all about good storytelling.

Ø  Generous servings of sly humor. Aaronovitch is a geek culture blueblood who drops so many inside jokes, there are websites devoted to indexing them.

  John Scalzi

Old Man’s War Series:

Old Man’s War

Questions for a Soldier

The Ghost Brigades

The Sagan Diary

The Last Colony

Zoe’s Tale

After the Coup

The Human Division

The End of All Things

Ø  Star Trek with realpolitik instead of optimism.

Ø  The Big Idea is that there’s nothing new under the sun. Nor over it.

Ø  Action-adventure final frontier saga with high stakes.

Ø  It’s funny when the characters are being funny, and precisely to the same degree that the character is funny.

Assorted:

The Dispatcher

Murder by Other Means

Redshirts (Star Trek, sideways, with occasional optimism)

Ø  Scalzi abandons (or skewers) his space-opera tendencies with these three little gems of speculative fiction. Scalzi’s gift is patience. He lets the scenario unfold like a striptease.

Ø  What-if thought experiments that jolt the brain like espresso shots.

Ø  Action/misadventure as necessary to accomplish the psychological special effects.

Ø  Redshirts is satire, so the humor is built-in, but it’s buried in the mix.

  David Wong/Jason Pargin

John Dies at the End

This Book is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don’t Touch It

What the Hell Did I Just Read?

Ø  Pargin clearly starts his novels with a handful of arresting scenes and images, then looses the characters on an unsuspecting world to wander wither they will.

Ø  Ideas aren’t as big or obvious as Heinlein, but they are there to challenge all your assumptions in the same way that Heinlein’s were.

Ø  Classic action/adventure for anyone raised on Scooby-Doo.

Ø  Occasional gusts of humor in a climate that’s predominantly tongue-in-cheek.

 Jodi Taylor’s Chronicles of St. Mary’s Series

Just One Damned Thing After Another

The Very First Damned Thing

A Symphony of Echoes

When a Child is Born*

A Second Chance

Roman Holiday*

A Trail Through Time

Christmas Present*

No Time Like the Past

What Could Possible Go Wrong?

Ships and Stings and Wedding Rings*

Lies, Damned Lies and History

The Great St Mary’s Day Out*

My Name is Markham*

And the Rest is History

A Perfect Storm*

Christmas Past*

An Argumentation of Historians

The Battersea Barricades*

The Steam Pump Jump*

And Now for Something Completely Different*

Hope for the Best

When Did You Last See Your Father?*

Why Is Nothing Ever Simple*

Plan For The Worst

The Ordeal of the Haunted Room

Ø  The * denotes a short story or novella. Okay, try to imagine Indiana Jones as a smartassed redheaded woman with a time machine and a merry band of full contact historians. I love history, and I especially love history narrated by a woman who can kick T. Rex ass.

Ø  The ideas are toys, not themes. Soapy in spots.

Ø  Action! Adventure! More action! More adventure! Tea break. Action again!

Ø  Big, squishy dollops of snort-worthy stuff.

 Laurie R. King’s Mary Russell Series

The Beekeeper's Apprentice

A Monstrous Regiment of Women

A Letter of Mary

The Moor

Jerusalem

Justice Hall

The Game

Locked Rooms

The Language of Bees

The God of the Hive

Beekeeping for Beginners

Pirate King

Garment of Shadows

Dreaming Spies

The Marriage of Mary Russell

The Murder of Mary Russell

Mary Russell's War And Other Stories of Suspense

Island of the Mad

Riviera Gold

The Art of Detection (Strictly speaking, this is in the action!lesbian Detective Kate Martinelli series, but it crosses over to the Sherlock Holmes genre. If you’ve ever wondered how Holmes would deal with the transgendered, this is the book.)

Ø  Sherlock Holmes retires to Sussex, keeps bees, marries a nice Jewish girl who is smarter than he is and less than half his age and he’s mentored since she was fifteen in an extremely problematic power dynamic relationship that should repulse me but doesn’t, somehow, because this is the best Sherlock Holmes pastiche out there. Mary should have been a rabbi, but it is 1920, so she learns martial arts and becomes an international detective instead. Guest appearances by Conan Doyle, Kimball O’Hara, T.E. Lawrence, Cole Porter, and the Oxford Comma.

Ø  Nothing mind-expanding here, unless the levels of meta present in a fictional world that is about how the fictional world might not be as fictional as you thought come as a surprise to anyone in the era of tie-in books, films, tv, interactive social media and RPGs.

Ø  If these two geniuses can’t catch the bad guys with their dazzling brilliance, they will happily kick some ass. Adventure takes center stage and the action sequences are especially creative.

Ø  Amusement is afoot.

 Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next Series

The Eyre Affair

Lost in a Good Book

The Well of Lost Plots

Something Rotten

First Among Sequels

One of Our Thursdays is Missing

The Woman Who Died a Lot

Ø  In a world where Librarians are revered and Shakespeare is more popular than the Beatles, someone has to facilitate the weekly anger-management sessions for the characters of Wuthering Heights, if only to keep them from killing each other before the novel actually ends. That someone is Thursday Next – Literature Cop.

Ø  Mind-bending enough to give Noam Chomsky material for another hundred years.

Ø  Adventure aplenty. Action? Even the punctuation will try to kill you.

Ø  This is a frolicsome look at humorous situations filled with funny people. Pretty much a full house in the laugh department.

 Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Series/City Watch Arc

Guards! Guards!

Men at Arms

Feet of Clay

Jingo

The Fifth Elephant

Night Watch

Thud!

Snuff

Raising Steam

Ø  If this were a game of CLUE, the answer would be Niccolo Machiavelli in Narnia with a Monty Python. Everything you think you know about books with dragons and trolls and dwarves and wizards is expertly ripped to shreds and reassembled as social satire that can save your soul, even if it turns out you don’t really have one. Do not be fooled by the Tolkien chassis – there’s a Vonnegut-class engine at work.

Ø  Caution: Ideas in the Mirror Universe May be Larger Than They Appear

Ø  The City Watch arc has plenty of thrilling action sequences. Some other of the fifty-million Discworld novels have less. Every one of them is nonstop adventure. Most of the adventure, however, takes the form of characters desperately trying to avoid thrilling action sequences.

Ø  Funny? Even though I’ve read every book in the series at least ten times, I still have to make sure I have cold packs on hand in case I laugh so hard I rupture something.

[hystericalweenie]

Just Another Day at the Office - The Sexperiment

George MacKay x Reader Series

Part Five: Make It or Break It

Masterlist

Summary: Y/f/n Y/l/n is doing better than ever; she’s finally in a relationship with the man she’s been constantly thinking about, she has some great friends, and she’s thriving at her dream job. Except, there’s one problem: being in a relationship with one of your coworkers can get really steamy, and can cause a lot of sexual frustration. Her new pitch idea may solve exactly that problem, but will George be okay with it?

a/n: I have absolutely no personal experience in magazine/journalism career, so the information in this fic will be provided with the knowledge I have conducted from research. With that being said, please don’t be mad if this is not accurate!!! **“The Sexperiment” is inspired by an actual Cosmopolitan article (here’s the link!) IM SO SORRY FOR BEING GONE SO LONG I’m here to finish this shit once and for all... I know it’s been a while, but I hold this series so close to my heart and I still have the same love for it as I did when I wrote my last chapter (I know it’s only been a few months but STILL) if you’re reading this, I just want to thank you for sticking around, you’re the best <3

Warnings: This is a slow burn fic, their relationship won’t happen in one night, so if you’re not into that, check out some of the beautifully written imagines that you can most likely find under the george mackay x reader tag. I might eventually write some of my own too :P At least one person’s saying “fuck” and there’s NSFW content..aka smut. You have been warned. Also angst :/ srry this is kinda short

I was in the worst possible situation I could have ever imagined: I had to choose between my dream job and my dream man.

Bree arrived home about twenty minutes later by herself. My bedroom door creaked open, signaling her arrival. She frowned at my appearance, which seemed to be mascara smudged all over my eyes and cheeks and swollen, bloodshot eyes.

She sat down beside me, pulling me into her. “Y/n, I am so, so, sorry.”

I let out a croaked sigh, “I-it’s fine, he was going t-to find out eventually.”

“I’m sure he’ll come around,” she rubbed my back soothingly. “I think he’s in love with you.”

“It doesn't matter if he’s in love or not!” I exclaimed, pulling out of her embrace, my emotions arising again. “He’ll never forgive me for this.”

Hot tears began to stream down my face and I felt my bottom lip tremble. Bree took it as a cue to leave me be, so she quietly exited to her own bedroom.

What the fuck was I going to do?

This job was the job I’d been looking for my entire life; it was the job I’d dreamed about working at. 

But, George... 

George was everything. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that George would have ever fucked up the way I did. I wouldn’t ever have to question his loyalty, he’d proven to be trustworthy and honest. He treated me like a princess, a way I’d only ever been treated by my father. I wasn’t sure if I’d hurt more without him or without a job. He never failed to make me smile or laugh, and he’d ensure that I always felt safe. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever fall in love again, until I met him.

I could get a job anywhere, but there was only one George MacKay.

I had to delete the article.

I headed to the kitchen and made myself two cups of coffee before cracking my knuckles and getting to work. 

Dean, 

This is an emergency. If you don’t reply now or tomorrow, I’m going to be in deep, deep shit.

I didn't have time to wait for his response; I got right to work. 

What are people into nowadays, I thought to myself. Sex.

Ping. I clicked on my email.

Y/n,

What? 

Well, anything’s better than the fucking Sexperiment article. 

Dean,

I have to write a new article. George found out. BAD. Can���t release it, I have to fix this.

Also, would you say your penis size relates to your shoe size at all? It’s for the article.

Promise!

Well, I thought, here goes nothing. My fingers began typing immediately. The caffeine made my fingers shake slightly, but I was determined to write anything. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get George back, but I knew I had to. This was a start, at least. 

Ping.

Y/n,

Knew that was going to happen. I’ll help you out, but you owe me. Can we do this tomorrow though? It’s Friday night. Uhhh and to ur other question: I don’t think so. Not going to elaborate more than that. Hope that’s good enough.

I rolled my eyes.

Dean,

Fine. I’ll send you my drafts and you better respond as soon as you can.

I prayed to every possible higher power that this would work. I began conducting research, reading articles and articles about the relationship between the size of a man’s penis and the size of a man’s feet. I wrote down statistics, quotes, and scientific evidence–making sure to exclude any personal experience. I spent hours explaining the theory and science behind it and citing every single quote.

I wasn’t sure exactly what was going to happen, but I prayed that Connie wouldn’t be too pissed at me and George would hopefully see how genuinely sorry I was. I knew I’d fucked up, I got too caught up in trying to impress my boss that I practically sabotaged my own relationship in the process. I hadn’t received a single text message or call from him. I missed the way he smelt of sandalwood and vanilla, I missed entangling my fingers in his soft, sandy locks. I missed the way his skin felt against mine and his velvety voice when he called me “love”.

Tears ran down my cheeks once again as these memories lingered in my head. I stared at my computer screen, my eyelids drooping; I needed a break. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep, so I decided that I was going to be entirely committed on staying up all night. Making a sandwich for myself, I sat and watched television for a moment, attempting to distract me from my obvious thoughts. And once I felt slightly more energized, I resumed reading articles, highlighting quotes, and writing. I continued this until Bree woke up, yawning as she swung her bedroom door open.

“Jesus, Y/n,” she observed, my figure at the kitchen table still hunched over, staring at my screen. “Were you up all night?”

“Yeah,” my voice was raspy from exhaustion. “There’s a pot of coffee waiting for you.”

She smiled softly, walking behind me and wrapping her arms around me. “All couples fight, you know.”

I sighed, “I don’t want to talk about this anymore; I need to get this article done.”

She raised her eyebrows. “You’re writing a new article?”

“Of course I am,” I defended, my eyes not leaving my screen. 

She poured herself a cup of the hot liquid.

“You love him.”

My eyes began to water and I fought to blink it away.

“Damn right I do,” I muttered to myself, though I was sure she heard me.

After finishing the draft of the article, I sent it over to Dean. Bree suggested that we go see our friends to distract me, but I wanted to stay home. I needed to write the final draft, and see George...both as soon as possible. Bree stayed around to make sure I’d be okay, watching television with me until Dean responded back with the edits. Once he finally did, I was rewriting the article and using his edits to perfect it. Once I’d finally finished it for Monday, I shut my laptop, grabbed my keys, and began driving to his house.

After parking, I climbed up the stairs until I reached his apartment door. I knocked a few times, nerves churning inside my stomach as I pondered all of the possible reactions he’d have. My biggest fear was that he’d never want to see me again. The door opened, revealing himself in a t-shirt and pajama pants, eyes puffy and bloodshot; I was sure my eyes looked the same.

 “I-” I began, letting out a sigh. “I rewrote the article.”

He raised his eyebrows.

“It’s still sex-themed, but it doesn’t have any connection or correlation to you,” I explained, my voice beginning to croak. “I can email it to you, if you’d like. You can read it, see if it’s okay first.”

He shook his head silently. It was apparent that he didn’t know what to say either.

“I know I fucked up,” my voice broke and my bottom lip trembled. “I shouldn’t have come up with an article like that, it was so fucking awful of me to embarrass you in front of your coworkers.”

Tears began to run down my face and I couldn't help but hiccup.

“P-please, George,” I whimpered.

His eyes began to well with tears of his own, and he pulled me into his arms. 

“I’m sorry for yelling at you outside of the restaurant,” he whispered, hugging me close to him.

“Oh, George,” I sobbed. “That was nothing; all you’ve done is treat me like gold, and I nearly exposed our fucking sex life to the world.”

He pulled away, cupping both of my cheeks with his palms, his blue orbs staring into mine, his eyelashes thick from wet tears and the whites of his eyes red.

“Please,” he begged, his voice cracking, “don’t lie, nor do something behind my back ever again.”

I pressed my hands against the backs of his, still holding my face in his palms. 

“Never again,” I confirmed, throwing my arms around him to feel the warm embrace I thought I’d never feel again. I could inhale his scent, hear his heartbeat through his chest, stare into his ocean blue orbs, and feel the soft sandy curls on his head.

He read the article, and though it made him slightly uncomfortable that I was writing about penises, he designed simple art that would make the article pop in the magazine. Then, we laid in his bed for hours, listening to each others heartbeats, listening to our breathing rhythms, staring into each others eyes as if we were silently communicating to one another. 

We decided to take a shower together, stripping each other of our clothes slowly and meaningfully. Once the hot water was running down our bare skin, we washed each other; shampooing each others hair slowly and washing our bodies tenderly, leaving kisses on wet shoulders and necks. Once we got out and dried off, we got back into his bed and maintained a spooning position, his bare torso against my bare back, as we dozed off to the warm, comforting feeling of our bare skin touching. 

Monday morning, I sat down at my desk and sent the new article to Connie, anxiety making me bite my nails as I waited for a response back. 

Ping.

Oh, no, I thought to myself.

Y/n,

Meet me in the conference room with Dean.

Connie

I sighed, exchanging looks with Dean–whom was reading the email over my shoulder–before we made our way to the conference room. She stood, her arms crossed, as we entered the room. I gulped, heart racing and sweat starting to form at my palms. The two of us sat ourselves, waiting for her to begin.

She joined us in a chair across from us, her elbows resting against the table.

“Well?” she began, her voice questioning. “What happened to the article?”

Dean looked at me, waiting for me to speak for myself. I braced myself before talking.

“The Sexperiment article wasn’t working for me, Connie,” I explained nervously, “I wasn’t having much luck writing it, and I wasn’t confident that it’d reach the magazine’s standards.”

I had to lie; I couldn’t tell her that the article nearly jeopardized my relationship. Dean sat next to me, silent.

She sighed, “I hope this one will reach the ‘magazine’s standards’, then,” she mimicked, before standing up and flattening her skirt. “I’ll publish the article, but this is a warning: do not change your article without contacting me first.”

And with that, we were dismissed, panic still swimming in our stomachs. Well, I thought, I chose George over my job; what else was I expecting?

[owedbcttcr]

SINCE   CHILDHOOD ,    CONNIE   HAS   ALWAYS   BEEN   FASCINATED   BY  technology.     the  crooning  tones  of  the  radio  drew  her  not  only  because  of  the  music  but  a  captivation  with  how  those  sounds  made  it  from  wherever  they’re  broadcast.     however,  that  never  amounted  to  an  eight-year-old  connie  tearing  the  radio  apart.     instead,  she  pleaded  with  her  mother  to  take  her  to  the  library  &&  proceeded  to  bury  her  little  nose  in  every  radio  related  book  until  she  found  one  she  could  understand.     with  that,  she  was  hooked.

her  love  affair  with  technology  took  place  from  afar.     with  the  exception  of  biology  and  chemistry,  science  classes  often  lacked  sense  to  her,  &&,  in  the  nineteen-forties,  the  idea  of  a  girl  taking  shop  classes  was  unthinkable.      despite  often  lacking  an  understanding  in  how  a  new  achievement  worked,  she  still  learned  what  she  could,  absorbing  what  she  comprehended,  &&  generally  marveled.

bright-eyed  &&  sweet-tempered,  no  one  pegged  connie  as  a  nerd  in  high  school.     most  assumed  her  interests  lay  in  fashion  or  the  movies,  not  airships  or  radios,  blood  types  &&  bandaging  methods.     truth  be  told,  it  wasn’t  hard.     she  did  love  a  pretty  dress  &&  kept  up  with  the  latest  music,  but  those  who  knew  her  best  saw  her  love  for  the  newest  in  technology.     when  connie  let  slip  she  planned  on  becoming  a  nurse  in  the  last  month  before  graduation,  many  couldn’t  believe  it.

in  nursing  school,  she  discovered  how  technology  &&  medicine  intersected,  thrilling  her  beyond  belief.    before  the  war,  she  dreamed  of  a  job  at  a  medical  research  laboratory,  aiding  doctors  in  their  search  for  new  medicines  &&  methods  of  care.     instead,  the  war  thrust  her  into  the  greatest  revolution  of  medical  care  in  a  hundred  years.     between  her  constantly  evolving  knowledge  and  the  advances  in  technology  in  other  realms  brought  on  by  the  war,  despite  everything  else,  connie  could  never  say  she  was  bored.

[theregoesjodariel]

Supergem: Writer’s Notes, Chapters 1-10

Hey gang! It’s a long time coming, but I finally got off my ass and finished the full notes for chapters 1-10 of Supergem, my big huge SU fic. I’m just about to finally get to work on the next batch of chapters, so I figured now would be a great time to look back on what I’ve done so far and provide some hopefully interesting commentary. Read on for that stuff!

Chapters 1-5

Right off the bat, chapter 1's title is a reference to the now-famous single-page retelling of Superman's origin story from All-Star Superman #1. There, "kindly couple" was used to summarize Clark Kent's crashlanding on Earth and discovery by the Kents.

Chapter 2 features what I feel would be the natural result of trying to fire bullets at a Gem: absolutely nothing. While Gems are obviously made of hard light and have been shown to be capable of being hurt by conventional means-- see Peridot getting Wile E. Coyote'd by the corrupted Gem in Beta-- I like to imagine that bullets are simply so small and so high-velocity that they'd pass through Gem bodies harmlessly. The science is probably wrong, but let me have my Rule of Cool.

Aside from sporting the amalgamated personalities of Lapis and Peridot, the two superheroes Turquoise takes the most inspiration from are Superman and Spider-Man. She shows at least some compassion for all people, even bad guys, like Superman, and she throws plenty of quips, especially when getting it handed to her, like Spidey.

As stated in the notes, I do not have a set design in mind for Turquoise, but I DID end up canonizing elements of a couple of designs I really like within the story. She sports the unique five-pointed hairstyle and orange suspenders of ahhween's design, as well as the cool cyan color scheme and water cape of cheerkitty1410's. Those two are just fantastic.

Axinite is a Gem OC of mine, a gladiatrix who fights in arenas on Homeworld, which function as the world's equivalent of recreational sports. A lot of the lore I have for her is regurgitated in the narration.

There are, of course, a couple of lines from "Stronger Than You" in chapter 4. There's the title, plus Turquoise correcting Val that the fight is one-on-two.

When I created the character, I actually completely failed to notice Val's considerable resemblance to Jasper, both in appearance (big, bulky and orange) and personality (haughty, judgmental). Naturally, when it hit me, I wrote in a nod to it in chapter 4.

Chapter 4 sees Turquoise and Val's fight spill into a mall, the very same one from Pearls' Night Out, currently my only other multi-chapter work. Rhiannon and Diane, both OCs from there, also make cameos (Rhiannon is the employee who points Turquoise in Val's direction, Diane is the journalist who interviews her on the street).

Pearl and Jasper handle city planning like military tacticians, because, well, they are military tacticians. They're also very overdramatic about it, natch.

Amazonite is a close friend of mine's gemsona, a former Crystal Gem who retired to become a seamstress after the corrupted Gems were all cured.

A couple of things involving Jasper take inspiration from the excellent Back to Beta. Pearl acts as Jasper's parole officer of sorts, rewarding her with Pearl Points for doing a good job and Jasper has an attachment to Earth music for its ability to say what cannot be said through simple speech, just like in there. Go read Back to Beta if you haven't, it's outstanding (it's also Jaspearl-- look at me go).

In one of many instances of Jodi Doing Too Much Research Into Things That Don't Matter, I actually broke out my copy of SU: Art & Origins to study its map of Beach City to determine just how nitpicky Pearl and Jasper were being.

Why do the Nephrites want to talk to Pearl? Maybe we'll find out....

Garnet "borrowed" Andy's plane to go to Empire City. That's a step up from "finding" a phone, don't you think?

I like to imagine that Bismuth has been rooting for Lapis and Peri to get together since the moment she met them. Her gaydar is just that good.

Believe it or not, I genuinely considered having Turquoise adopt a secret identity at one point during planning. I call myself out on it through Steven in chapter 5.

I knew I just couldn't do this story without Jasper since she is, in a way, the villain (or at least a villain) in Turquoise's origin story. As an abuse survivor, showing the ramifications of her and Lapis' time as Malachite as best I could was tantamount to the main storyline.

Chapters 6-10

The foreshadowing in chapter 6's identity should make Ms. Knight's identity a no-brainer for seasoned SU fans. No one spoil it if you figure it out, though!

Ronaldo is absolutely, positively, 100%, one of the guys who doesn't shower before the convention. That's so him it hurts.

The generally meta premise of chapters 6-9 were the result of me drafting them right after I got home from my city's local big convention, which I had a wonderful time at. I did my first ever cosplay (I was Pearl!) there and managed to hold decent conversations with Zach Callison, Deedee Magno Hall, Michaela Dietz, and Estelle. The layout of DelmarvaCon is even copied from the layout of that convention center.

In one of many moments of narrative intersecting with reality, I did some sleuthing and found that Paulette was, in her very brief on-screen appearance, voiced by Deedee Magno Hall, Pearl's voice actress. As said above, I met Deedee at the con I went to. You know how everyone on and off set never stops talking about how nice she is? They're not exaggerating, she's a fantastic person. Kim Tan is fully based on her, taking her name from a couple of Hall's other roles (Kim in Miss Saigon and a bit character named Lori Tan from an episode of Third Watch) and Lapis and Peridot's encounter with her is based on my own; while she didn't usher us ahead of the line to meet her, she did take pictures of my friend and I's cosplays for free when she was supposed to be charging for them. Seriously, nicest celebrity I've ever met.

Chapter 7 has Peridot riff that she can "observe 800 moving objects and compute their direction of travel," a phrase long used to describe Prowl in the Transformers franchise. It has no character significance here, I was on a Transformers kick at the time of writing.

The uncomfortable pulling sensation mentioned in chapter 7 is called an "itch," a callback to The Itch, the oneshot serving as prelude to this fic. There, "the itch" is used to refer to the deeply unsettling feeling a Gem gets when fitted with limb enhancers-- think the feeling you have or would have felt from a dentist fitting you with those awful rubber bands to help with the braces process, it's that kind of feeling. The feeling being given off by Ronaldo's control device is similar, "adding" to a Gem when nothing need be added.

The long opening narration in chapters 8 and 9 were inspired by the writing style of comic book writer Scott Snyder, who has a tendency to start, end, or intersperse his comics with long, expositional comparative musings on seemingly simple or mundane things (seriously, count the number of times one of his Batman comics opens with narration explaining the philosophical meaning behind the rocks used to make buildings in Gotham City).

The cost of Connie's sword is, as stated in the story proper, a rough estimate borne from around half an hour of research. While there are other pink stones that could've been used, I picked pezzotaite because of its extreme rarity, just to drive home how absurdly all-out Bismuth went on it.

Give Jasper a metal-style song in Season 6, Crewniverse!

I like to think Jasper and Greg would be good friends. Think about it: you've just found out your former moral enemies were not only led by, but had close relationships with, the person you spent your whole life idolizing. Who do you talk to about it? Why not the person who knew her more intimately than anyone else?

At the end of the Turquoise and Steven segment in chapter 10, the two sit down to watch Crying Breakfast Friends' extra-length season finale, in which a number of characters get new outfits. Now what could that be referencing?

The narration of Jasper's thoughts makes reference to the exiled Hessonite, antagonist of Steven Universe: Save the Light and a criminally underrated character.

I'd like to preface this point with a content warning for abuse, as I'll be discussing that a bit here.

So, as I mentioned briefly in the 1-5 notes, I'm an abuse survivor; I broke up with my abuser, who I had been with for just about 3 months, in February of this year. An acquaintance of mine has since drafted a document exhaustively detailing all of the bad shit they did for which receipts could be found, and my abuser has reacted with avoidance, victim blaming, and a refusal to apologize. I wasn't yet aware of just how in denial of her own mistakes they were when I wrote chapter 10, so I tried to write Pearl and Jasper's conversation as how I wished the conversation my abuser had with themselves would go, in a perfect world.

To get reflective for a moment, writing that has taught me, in a way I hadn't seen before, how Steven Universe's real, heartfelt redemption arcs, as fantastically-written and just generally good as they are, don't always apply in real-world scenarios. My shitty ex is not Jasper and they never will be.

[lovemiraclehunter-blog]

The Human Brain Reacts Differently To The Use Of Fructose And Glucose

The Human Brain Reacts Differently To The Use Of Fructose And Glucose. New digging suggests that fructose, a upright sugar found unaffectedly in fruit and added to many other foods as part of high-fructose corn syrup, does not dampen appetite and may cause men and women to eat more compared to another simple sugar, glucose. Glucose and fructose are both simple sugars that are included in colleague parts in table sugar vitorun.us. In the new study, brain scans suggest that odd things happen in your brain, depending on which sugar you consume. Yale University researchers looked for appetite-related changes in blood gurgle in the hypothalamic region of the brains of 20 healthy adults after they ate either glucose or fructose. When occupy consumed glucose, levels of hormones that play a role in belief full were high maleext.icu. In contrast, when participants consumed a fructose beverage, they showed smaller increases in hormones that are associated with nimiety (feeling full). The findings are published in the Jan 2, 2013 consequence of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Dr Jonathan Purnell, of Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, co-authored an leading article that accompanied the new study comprar pro extender la chaux-de-fonds. He said that the findings replicate those found in former animal studies, but "this does not prove that fructose is the cause of the bulk epidemic, only that it is a possible contributor along with many other environmental and genetic factors". That said, fructose has found its way into Americans' diets in the materialize of sugars - typically in the form of high-fructose corn syrup - that are added to beverages and processed foods. "This increased intake of added sugar containing fructose over the one-time several decades has coincided with the get to one's feet in obesity in the population, and there is strong evidence from organism studies that this increased intake of fructose is playing a role in this phenomenon," said Purnell, who is partner professor in the university's division of endocrinology, diabetes and clinical nutrition. But he stressed that nutritionists do not "recommend avoiding organically grown sources of fructose, such as fruit, or the occasional use of honey or syrup". And according to Purnell, "excess consumption of processed sugar can be minimized by preparing meals at house using whole foods and high-fiber grains". Connie Diekman, boss of university nutrition at Washington University in St Louis, agreed that more check in is needed. "This study provides an interesting look at how the brain reacts to several chemicals found in foods, but how this might impact obesity and the growing number of people who are obese cannot be strong-minded from this study alone". Dr Scott Kahan, director of the National Center for Weight and Wellness in Washington, DC, added there is a lot that scientists do not differentiate about fructose and how it affects your body. "There are certainly differences between sugar molecules, and these are still being worked out scientifically". According to Kahan, high-fructose corn syrup, a ubiquitous sweetener that manufacturers lady-love because it is inexpensive, super-sweet and helps bestow shelf life, gets a grotty rap about its potential role in the obesity epidemic, but it has about the same amount of fructose as table sugar (sucrose). "We don't reservation know if there is some uniquely unhealthy aspect of high-fructose corn syrup". One chance that is clear is that "almost all of us eat too much sugar, and if we can moderate that we will be healthier on a number of levels". Dr Louis Aronne, stumble and director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Program at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City, respected that most sweeteners stifle a mixture of glucose and fructose. For these reasons, "the effect is not as dramatic as you might see in a slang pain in the arse like this". Still, a growing body of evidence is pointing toward the hypothalamic brain region as having a job in obesity. "Things as subtle as a change in sweetener can have an impact on how full somebody feels, and could tether to an increase in calorie intake and an increasing pattern in obesity seen in this country". So what to do? As a nutritionist, Sharon Zarabi, of Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, tells her patients to pore over foodstuffs labels vigrx spray available in jabalali uae. "Avoid having fructose or glucose listed as one of as the first three ingredients, and think sure that sugar is less than 10 grams per serving".

[womeninfilms]

Professor Marston and the Wonder Women

Year: 2017

Length: 1h 48min

Genre: Biography, Drama

Language: English

Director: Angela Robinson

Starring: Luke Evans, Rebecca Hall, Bella Heathcote, Monica Giordano, JJ Feild, Oliver Platt, Connie Britton

Story: In 1928, Professor William “Bill” Moulton Marston (Luke Evans) and his wife Elizabeth (Rebecca Hall) conduct their research in psychology at Harvard and Radcliffe College. They hire a teaching assistant, Olive Byrne (Bella Heathcote), since Bill expresses an interest in studying her. When they become entangled in a polyamorous relationship, Bill and Elizabeth lose their jobs, so the three of them move to a New York suburb to raise their children. When Bill is introduced to fetish art, he begins to develop the comic book character Wonder Woman.

Pros:

Very strong women: This applies mostly to Elizabeth. She is incredibly intelligent and invents the lie detector, even though her husband goes on to say that he made the invention. She knows what she wants, she has her own thoughts and opinions and never hides them from her husband or anyone else. Olive is also a strong character, although in a different sense. Elizabeth often has doubts about the polyamorous relationship because of what society thinks of them, but Olive never cares about any of that.

Lesbianism as something normal: Although both women are most likely bisexual, since they love and are also sexually attracted to Bill, Bill takes their relationship as inspiration for the Wonder Woman comics where he introduces lesbian themes. When representatives of the Child Study Association of America call him out on this during a hearing in 1945, he defends his choices and says that lesbianism is completely normal.

It’s about the relationship between Elizabeth and Olive: From the beginning, Elizabeth is concerned that Olive wants to sleep with her husband. When it turns out that Olive is actually in love with Elizabeth, Elizabeth is shocked at first and rejects her, but then also introduces the idea of the polyamorous relationship. The women also take the first step in this relationship and Bill only sort of tags along. Generally speaking, it often feels like Bill is just there, while the movie takes time to establish and show the relationship between Elizabeth and Olive. Elizabeth names her only daughter after Olive. When they are introduced to bondage, the women try it first (because they want to, not because they are told to), while Bill only stands there and watches. Elizabeth is also the one to break up with Olive and Olive is the one who has to decide if she wants to take her back.

Polyamorous relationship: The polyamorous relationship in the movie is displayed as something completely normal. Elizabeth and Olive both have two children each with Bill, they live together in a big house and very much act like a happy family, with family dinners and weekend activities. Their neighbours, who eventually find out about the relationship, are shown to be in the wrong for judging them. Elizabeth, Olive, and Bill all are equal in this relationship and there is no jealousy involved.

Science or kink?: Bill often uses science as an excuse to live out his kinks. It doesn’t become entirely clear if he really believes in and supports feminism and female empowerment or if he’s just turned on by powerful women tying him up. But Elizabeth calls him out on this and says he uses science as an excuse, so the difficulty of this theme is addressed. Still, it never feels as if Bill is objectifying Elizabeth and Olive and their relationship.

Cons:

Elizabeth’s indecisiveness: This isn’t a big issue, but sometimes Elizabeth’s characterisation felt weird to me. She is the one to suggest they should try a polyamorous relationship, but when Olive expresses interest, she’s against it again. She is also the one who doesn’t want them to continue the relationship after losing her job, but then happily provides for the whole family by starting to work as a secretary. When the neighbours find out about the relationship, she sends Olive away even though she always wanted an unconventional life and loves Olive. Her character shows the conflict of those times, but it was odd that she had the idea and then struggled the most with it.

Homophobia: 2/10 – Lesbianism is called an illness by a representative of the Child Study Association of America in one short scene.

Violence: 4/10 – There is no violence against characters because of their sexual orientation, at least not in the usual way. There is violence, however, against one of the children when the neighbours find out that his parents are in a polyamorous relationship and Bill is beaten up by a neighbour. So the violence, strictly speaking, does not happen because of sexual orientation but because of the nature of the relationship.

Ending: The ending, of course, is historical. Bill died of cancer in 1947, but Elizabeth and Olive stayed together until Olive died in the mid-80s.

Sexual orientation: This isn’t a topic in the movie, the focus is mostly on submission and dominance in general and on the polyamorous relationship, but, as already mentioned above, Elizabeth and Olive can be read as bisexual.

[proserpine-in-phases]

@nachttour tagged me in a writing question thing!

1) is there a story you’re holding off on writing for some reason?

uh yeah there’s like, several. some of them are better developed than other but a lot of the reason I’ve been holding off on writing them just comes down to feeling inadequate due to my own limited experience with relationships and feelings of complete inadequacy. it’s hard to write an epic romancu when I’m aromantic as fuck and have a hard time conceptualizing what those feelings might be like to experience, for example, or like, I want the story to be funny but I feel like I’m not actually a very funny person?

also I always feel like I need to do more research. I get stuck on the research phase about 85% of the time haha

2) what work of yours, if any, are you the most embarrassed about existing?

man I am embarrassed by MYSELF existing, so  idk probably all of it when you get right down to it

3) what order do you write in? front of book to back? chronological? favorite scenes first? something else?

it seems to vary a bit. sometimes I just power through start to finish, but sometimes I need to write the ending first to remind myself of what I’m shooting for. sometimes I just gotta write some random scenes in the middle before I forget what they are and have to figure out where they’ll go later.

considering the longest thing I’ve managed to finish comes in at about 12 k  I don’t know if I have enough data to really come up with a firm answer for this one though. from what I can tell, it really does seem like I start at the beginning and go for a bit, write the end, and try to connect the two with occasional random middle bits getting written out of order and a general feeling of “I’ll fix it in post” carrying me through

4) favorite character you’ve written

probably Samantha Traynor. she’s such a fucking nerd and I love her. it was surprisingly easy to write for her once I got started. at least I THINK I did a good job writing her, I have no actual idea haha

5) character you were most surprised to end up writing

I’ve written TWO mass effect fics featuring Samara as a main character and I have no idea how this happened or why because she’s about in the middle when it comes to my most to least favorite mass effect characters list

6) something you would go back and change in your writing that it’s too late/complicated to change now

there’s a couple of fics I wrote for fic exchanges that I kinda wish I could take back and turn into something else because I love the concept but feel guilty about idk, using as a springboard because the original is a gift, or something. it feels ehhhhhhhhh disingenuous to continue them when the gift is supposed to be a singular and self contained unit

for example, oh man I would love to take that vrisrezi space pirates au someplace, but I don’t know if I should because the fic itself is a gift, complete, and so forth. 

plus I hate the way I run out of steam about 4 chapters into everything. I would like to not run out of motivation please

7) when asked, are you embarrassed or enthusiastic to tell people that you write?

considering my output is so low I barely consider myself a writer at all tbh.

but yes, embarrassed. I hope to god the three people I know irl who follow me just like. never see those posts haha

8) favorite genre to write

space adventure! and lately? mysteries even though I have no FUCKING idea why or even how to write them, which is why I have at least three projects stalled out on me haha

9) what, if anything, do you do for inspiration?

I read a lot, mostly. sometimes I stare at a wall. or play minesweeper. 

also when I’m doing something fairly mindless sometimes my mind wanders and I hit something. 

oh and music. music is great

10) write in silence or with background noise? with people or alone?

I usually need music, mood music preferable, instrumental so the lyrics don’t distract me. generally I prefer to not be around people when I write, though a public setting is also fun to write in. I’m too distractable to actually get any done though, so I usually end up just looking like a tool with their notebook out if I try to write in a coffee shop or whatever tho, haha

11) what aspect of your writing do you think has most improved since you started writing?

I think writing fanfic has really helped me figure out what it means to write in character. also I think I’m starting to get better at balancing dialogue versus narration? at least a little bit

12) your weaknesses as an author

the inability to actually finish shit. 

unwillingness to approach emotions that make me feel uncomfortable. 

the fact that I often approach writing a character with the thought of what I would do in a situation rather than what the character would do (which is why writing fanfiction is helping me with that haha)

coming up with plots that lend themselves well to longer stuff

13) your strengths as an author

pretty good at dialogue

when it comes to my own shit, pretty good at coming up with interesting fantasy worlds (I think they’re interesting at least)

I’ve got a pretty firm grasp overall just the nuts and bolts of writing: I mean I tutored English in college for fuck’s sake I know how to write a grammatically correct run on sentence when I want to 

14) do you make playlists for your current wips?

not really

15) why did you start writing?

I wanted to know what happened next

16) are there any characters who haunt you?

not really? I mean, there are specific character TYPES that’ll get me every time, though, like the happy go lucky person who has to learn what pain is but still come out the other side a LOT worse for wear but not completely broken (think Tasslehoff Burrfoot, or perhaps less obscure Vash the Stampede) but I wouldn’t say they haunt me, per say

17) if you could give your fledgling author self any advice, what would it be?

don’t be afraid to be self indulgent. you’ll enjoy it more and who the fuck cares, anyway? people who’ll make fun of you for doing what you love are ass holes

18) were there any works you read that affected you so much that it influenced your writing style? what were they?

If I’m honest I can’t really say what influences my writing style, if I even have one. Mostly all I can do is list off my favorite authors because I’m pretty sure they all have something to do with it. 

so let’s just do that I guess.  when I was a teenager I tended to find a single author and just read through all their works before moving on, and these are the big ones that stand out:

Connie Willis, Anne McCaffrey, Steven Brust and Ursula K. Le Guin. Connie Willis for the humor she includes in almost all her writing, Anne McCaffrey because I STILL spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about Pern. She had a real skill for coming up with both great characters and great settings, even if what she did with them, and also her inability to keep continuity were less good. Steven Brust introduced me to the idea of relating to morally reprehensible characters at an alarmingly young age. Ursula K. Le Guin, I just love her. No idea if it’s actually done anything GOOD to my writing but she gives me something to aspire to.

I read just. a ridiculous amount of fantasy and science fiction as a kid, the genres as a whole without a doubt influence the type of shit I end up writing. also in seventh grade I mainlined dragonlance, just the whole damn thing

later in college I got really into Margaret Atwood. her focus on female characters and narrative just is really great.  

then I went through a depressive phase in my late 20s and just exclusively read Julia Quinn, Joanna Lindsey, Sabrina Jeffreys and Eloisa James, and that was IT. so I’m pretty sure my foray into the romance genre is what makes me honestly prefer povs limited to two or three characters  hey, reading romance novels also lead me to the realization that I’m aromantic so \o/ I guess

19) when it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, ect.?

I outline and then give up lol

20) do you write in long sit-down sessions or in little spurts?

little spurts until something grabs me and makes me marathon. usually that’s a deadline, but sometimes it’s also inspiration 

21) what do you think when you read over your older work?

mostly just holy shit I can’t believe I wrote this! sometimes that’s bad, sometimes it’s good. I can’t really tell if I’m good at divorcing myself from my writing enough to give me perspective on it, to tell the truth, because for a good lot of it, I still think it’s pretty good so ???

22) are there any subjects that make you uncomfortable to write?

it’s hard for me to let a character be embarrassed by the dumb shit they do. I don’t want them to do dumb shit because of it, which makes it hard for the character to have shit to grow and learn from.

23) any obscure life experiences that you feel have helped your writing?

I’m pretty sure my own issues with having and experiencing some emotions makes its way into the stuff I choose to write about, especially when it comes to the original stuff (I have. at LEAST three different plot outlines that involve characters literally losing the ability to experience emotions and having to find a way to heal or gain it back haha)  

also the fic I wrote about the box ghost is literally just about what it’s like to work in a factory haha

24) have you ever become an expert on something you previously knew nothing about, in order to better a scene or a story?

listen. 

yes.

I fucking. LOVE. research. 

honestly this is the stage where I most often get lost in the weeds, distracted by my own need to know more

25) copy/paste a few sentences or a short paragraph that you’re particularly proud of

“He was not the knight Casey taught him to be, but he was close enough for government work“ remains the single best pun I’ve ever written

tagging: @anthropwashere @inktail @manicpixiesdreamdragon if you guys are up for it!