#didn't people ever learn about kindness

[arviyya]

Hi, I've written to you before (I'm the greedy for ATOS Anon) idk if you remember.

But don't you think that marauders fandom is going in a really weird direction? Like, everyone criticizes each other lately, whether it's about fanarts, or ships, or not shipping specific couples or about whatever reason there can be.

I saw you re-blogged this Jegulus fanart and the comment section there is just disgusting. Why fans are doing this to each other, like, what's the problem with imagining NON-EXISTENT characters the way you want? Where this fandom heading to?

I once on tik-tok said I prefer Remus as a single man and I was literally eaten alive in comments, they said I'm homophobe, intolerant, transphobe etc etc. What happened to this community? It once was a safe space for anyone who needed and now I'm not sure anymore... I hope it's not too excessive of me to asking you and ranting about this, but I really wanted to know your opinion. If not, that's ok, don't feel forced to answer this and just ignore. Take care xxxx

Uhhh, and if anyone who spread this bulls**t comments and insults toward writers, art creators etc, is reading, I beg of you, hit your head with something heavy and try to think about being a better person.

Omg, hi 'greedy for ATOS' anon, of course I remember you. I'm gonna tell you something, writers who pay attention will always recognize the people who keep coming back, the usernames or in this case an identifier. We remember the readers who are gobbling up our work because you mean the world to us. Also, I just want to say I'm so happy there's at least one person out there who's greedy for tos. That story is so near and dear to my heart. I love rosekiller so much.

Anyway, to the matter at hand. This is going to be longer than I meant it to be, but that's okay. So before I go too deep into it, I dunno if you're a writer or a reader, or both, but before I say anything else, I just want to say there are definitely still safe spaces in fandom. They can be hard to find but they exist and persist. I'm very lucky to have found a good community of people who remind me everyday that fandom is still fun and silly and free. People who adhere strongly to the classic etiquette, such as 'ship and let ship' and 'you're kink is not my kink and that's okay' type of stuff. People who don't judge, and stick up for fellow creators, and don't put up with fandom bullying (which we've seen alot of in the last year).

So to answer your question, for the reasons listed above, I don't think the marauders fandom at it's core is going anywhere. Shitty people will come and go, and with the popularity of jegulus, it was inevitable to attract discourse like it has. That's human nature though, from what I've come to find. People like to argue, or stir the pot, or create contention. They like to get a rise out of people; but more than anything, I think some are just so angry in their heart - and they will find any excuse to unleash it. It's like a boiling pot and the steam just needs somewhere to go. There's truth in that saying - that misery loves company. And it's not just readers who do this - it's writer on writer - artist on artist. I'm not gonna lie to you anon, I've felt quite discouraged myself over the last several months too. It's hard to see the bullying and keep a good head in fandom sometimes. But you know what, despite all that, it's people like you who keep fandom alive and lovely, people who spread positivity and understand fandom etiquette. The more of us who give up on it, the less positivity fandom will have.

On a more specific level regarding that art, it does blow my mind that people are so bent out of shape about fictional characters. Here's the thing. Every. Single. Representation. Matters. Because humans aren't meant to be shoved into a box. And alot of people don't understand that. I'm a huge Jegulus fan even though I mostly write Rosekiller. My longest ongoing wip is a Jegulus wip. I love ALL jeg representations. Trans Reggie? yes please. Amab Masc Reggie? yes please. Cis straight Reggie? Absolutely. Poly jeg, yes. Tall James, yes. Short James, yes. Top James, yes. Switch James, yes. Bottom James, yes. All are just as valid as the next, and it's all of these interpretations (like you said) that makes fandom so rich. The thing is? that artist is a human being. People also forget about the person behind the screen, and their feelings were probably hurt and that's not fair to them. They're just doing what they love, and they're a really sweet person who didn't deserve that.

I'm sorry you had that experience on tiktok :( I can't say I'm all that surprised though. Tiktok isn't what I would consider the safest space. There are alot of people on there that just don't understand the rules of fandom etiquette, and are just so harsh to people in general. It's honestly a bit of a cesspool (I do use tiktok but I just don't interact a whole lot there)

Like I said, I have had similar worries and doubts as you do. But there are people who make it worthwhile, and I think the longevity is stronger than the hatred. My advice to you or anyone reading this is to curate your spaces. There's nothing wrong with doing this. Leave those servers, unfollow those people, block those posts, do whatever you need so that you can have a place that feels safe for you. Don't let anyone tell you not to do that. In fandom, there's no reason not to. This is supposed to be a place of enjoyment so you're within your right to keep it that way.

Safe spaces in fandom will always be there for those who need it; sometimes it's just about weeding out where those safe spaces are and being ruthless about it.

Anyway, thanks for asking anon, I know I'm preaching to the choir with alot of this, but hopefully some of the advice was helpful, and hopefully it gives you some hope about fandom <33

[khaopybara]

KHAOTUNG THANAWAT as RAY PAKORN episode 10 of ONLY FRIENDS

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

wanna ask how you feel about the eridan bpd headcanon/theory(?? not sure what to call it!) you're so good at your character analysis and i'd love to see your outlook on it

Since I don't have a degree or any formal training in psychology, I feel deeply uncomfortable diagnosing characters. I've made an autism joke before but only because I'm on the spectrum. He's definitely traumatized and anxious, but I mean those as descriptors of his behavior rather than capital-D Diagnoses. I try to focus on those when I can - the cause and effect of cognition, self-image, and behavior - and those factors may very well match up with DSM criteria, but I try not to touch an actual diagnosis with a ten foot pole unless the author has explicitly stated that X character has Y condition.

[icewindandboringhorror]

I find it kind of silly that so many of those "time based life rule" sayings are like ~deep serious guidelines~ of some sort, but then there's that one other Well Known Rule that's just like "hrmm can I eat something off of the ground or not"

[dredshirtroberts]

dry swallowing pills is my stupidest flex. i'm not even showing off anymore i'm just impatient

[lesbiancharliedalton]

-

[shmowder]

just need to vent about the Olympics

[musical-chick-13]

.

[fionnaskyborn]

current mood:

[kyaruun]

Hiiiiii nyaaaaaaaa I was wondering if you knew like uh if I wanna do computer programming I'd apply for compsci??? Though they're different I see lots of schools have compsci but there are No Schools with computer programming so I was wondering if. You know if they lump them together a lot of times

<- looking at schools,,,

disclaimer: i am spanish and we have a completely different educational system than the US but i hope my experience might serve a bit! also forgive me for (probably) using the wrong terms for everything </3

i assume with computer programming you mean only programming. coding. idk how things are over there but as far as i know STEM students usually get some programming done at a basic level in their first year(s) but if you want to learn programming in a more "professional" sense you need to do computer science. welp my degree is called computer engineering but i think it's the same? similar? i hope it is

i don't think there is a programming only school because it's one of many skills you're supposed to get in the field. everyone can program. i promise there are a lot of tutorials online that do a much better work at teaching programming than many uni classes!! i know math students that have taken like 2.5 subjects on programming and do things A LOT better than half of my classmates

the thing with computer science is you need a lot more skills that just coding. maths, for starters (which i suck at lol) if you wanna understand algorithms or do anything in the AI or machine learning field. it really depends on what you'd like to do afterwards because most of the time you will end up coding some way or another. but it's sprinkled with some more stuff in between ^^

like yeah 99% of the time people associate cs with coding and just coding and as the local 4th year computer engineering student i can definitely say coding isn't everything. the first years are more code heavy because you needed to get used to the basics. but then there is documentation (class diagrams, use cases, etc.), there's everything related to requirements gathering (user stories, interviews, a bazillion documents where you need to find out what a client might want for their app), ui/ux design, project management (which is an area you might enjoy!! pretty much organazing a team and making sure everything is up to date and everyone is working) and a loooot more stuff. i can only talk from my own experience as a student focusing on software development

tldr: if you're only interested in programming mayyybe you should read into those compsci schools, see what they're offering and think if that's something you like! if you like coding enough to make an actual job out of it you might want to a) do computer science or something like that or b) learn on your own but in a deeper level. by this i mean there are many tutorials online that only go through the very basics and there are some really interesting/useful topics they don't cover or might be needed for professional work

[leapinarmadillo]

i think To Know is my ultimate favorite j5 song.....

[classicintp]

Goddammit I miss that cat.

[theood]

One of the other things that stopped me from perusing college was that by the end of my schooling I felt so very stupid and that I was lacking core skills and I'd flunk out of college. Which I couldn't necessarily do in highschool

[iknityounot]

(Long post, sorry y'all)

A little more than two years ago now, my grandmother passed away. She and my grandpa had moved down to my home town a few years before so we could take care of them. I brought them groceries once a week, helped them write checks, fixed tvs, and found lost things. I was really close with my grandma.

In addition to her hilarious personality and dry wit, one of my favorite things about her was that she was a painter and a crafter like me! She used to crochet, and I took her to the craft store a couple of times so she could get more yarn and books on crochet. But her arthritis and the shaking in her hands kept getting worse, so she eventually had to stop.

She kept her most recent project, a granny square blanket, safely packed away in a plastic bin. She told all of us she was going to finish it one day.

Her hands never got better, and when she got sick, and we found out it was cancer, she rapidly deteriorated.

After she passed, I went to work helping my mom clean out my grandparents apartment so we could move my grandpa in with her. In our frantic cleaning, I found that bin again:

DOZENS of granny squares, dozens of half used skeins. I asked my mom what she wanted me to do with it, and she said she didn't care. I set it aside and later took it home.

Maybe a month later, that tumblr post about the Loose Ends Project was going around. It felt like a sign--I was never going to learn to crochet in order to finish my grandmother's blanket. But they might be able to help!

So I filled out the interest form. They got back to me SUPER quick. And maybe 2 weeks later, I was paired with volunteer in my state (only 2 hours away!) and the box of yarn, granny squares, and my grandmother's crochet hook were in the mail. That was at the end of January this year.

Over the next couple of months, my "finisher" emailed me regular updates on her progress, and asked me questions on my preferences for how she constructed the final blanket.

At the end of August, the blanket was done!

I had always intended the blanket to be a gift for my mother. So I cleaned it up, put it in the only bag I had big enough to fit it, and drove to my mom's. I gave the blanket to her and she was gobsmacked. I explained to her all about Loose Ends, and how someone volunteered to finish the piece for us. She was speechless. (I was quite pleased with this, because I am not the best at giving gifts, so this was a pretty exciting reaction!)

She said that it was the most thoughtful gift she had ever been given. She said "your grandma would love this". To which I replied, "yeah, I know she really wanted to finish it a couple of years ago". But that was when my mom dropped the bomb of a century on me--she told me that my grandma had started making those granny squares OVER 30 YEARS AGO. She had started the blanket when my grandpa was staying in the hospital, but that was back when my mom was younger than I am now! My grandma had packed them all away, planning on finishing it, when my grandpa was sent home from the hospital. Then it went from house to house, from condo in Chicago to their apartment in my hometown. All that time and my grandma had wanted to finish it, but couldn't. First because she was busy, then because she forgot how to do it, then because of her arthritis, and then because of the cancer. My mom said she had given up on expecting my grandma to finish it. 

She said I brought a piece of her childhood with her mom out of the past.

And really, all of this is to say, if you have seen or heard about the Loose Ends Project and have an uncompleted project or piece from a loved one who has passed away--these are your people. They were so kind and treated my project with such care. That box probably would have been found by my own grandkids one day if I hadn't heard about Loose Ends.

Five stars, absolutely worth it!

(From what I understand, you can sign up to volunteer too! If you have time to share, it might be worth checking out!)

[look-at-the-stars-tonight]

sorry for diary posting so much on main but this is the last one today prommy

[babycharmander]

(BOOK OF BILL SPOILERS)

I just finished reading The Book of Bill and I am kindof losing my mind over some of this stuff.

I had wondered if Alex Hirsch might make Bill sympathetic in some way and oh boy I was not expecting him to do it so successfully (and without cheapening Bill's character).

So, we learn that Bill was born into a 2D world... as a mutant who can see into the third dimension. He claims he was absolutely loved by all, but when talking about his powers, he mentions under Pyrokinesis:

"Cipher, Cipher, he's insane / Starting fires with his brain." The kids in grade school could be so cruel. But where are they now, huh? WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

So probably not quite as liked as he was letting on. To add to that, there's the silly straw page, which looks like silly nonsense until you decipher some of the codes:

"EYE DOCTOR OF A DIFFERENT KIND / WHO WANTS TO MAKE HIS PATIENTS BLIND" "THE DOCTOR SAYS / THREE SIPS A DAY / WILL MAKE THE VISIONS / GO AWAY"

I wasn't sure what this meant until I saw someone point out... he was seeing a third dimension that no one else could see. His parents probably took him to the eye doctor to try to "fix" him. Which, speaking of his eye doctor, the coded message in the section about human eyeballs says something interesting:

"MY OPTOMETRIST NEVER SAW IT COMING"

It could be a joke given beforehand he's talking about dissecting a human eye, but given the previous hints of medical abuse, I wouldn't put it past him that he tried to get revenge on his eye doctor.

Oh yeah and the whole thing about him setting his entire dimension on fire? Yeah it turns out it was entirely a mistake (he just wanted everyone to understand the third dimension he was seeing so they could be free of only two dimensions), he was so traumatized by it he blacks out when trying to recall it. He deeply, deeply regrets it, and...

"What? Your ENTIRE home dimension? destroyed? How? By what?" Bill looked distant, more distant than I'd ever seen him. "By a monster."

He sees himself as a monster.

And yet, he's not some innocent, misunderstood being. He still revels in causing pain and chaos. He's terrible in general, but becomes incredibly abusive toward Ford.

"YOU'RE MY PROPERTY. DON'T FORGET IT. The hillbilly abandoned you, your father won't want you returning without millions, you have no friends, and if you died out here in the snow, who would even miss you?"

Which... speaking of him and Ford...

Yes, yes, I know people ship them. But like, whether you see their relationship as romantic or platonic (I see it as the latter), there's some interesting parallels to be made here.

Both Bill and Ford are mutants who were mocked for their being different. (Bill was not physically a mutant, as far as we know, but more in the sense of him having vision stronger than that of everyone else in his dimension, and also having special powers. And he does describe himself as a mutant.) Both became social outcasts, separated from their families but still haunted by them (Ford seeing commercials of Stan on TV and running across old photos of him and his brother, Bill being haunted by his family in some form). Neither could return home for one reason or another. Both more powerful than their peers (Ford intellectually, Bill in terms of actual powers). Both of them isolated and alone. (Yes, Bill does have the Henchmaniacs, but they seem like shallow friends, and only really seem to follow him out of a desire to have a place to party.)

Ford was not aware of most of this, aside from knowing that Bill could not go home because his dimension was destroyed. But Bill absolutely saw himself in Ford. There was no other person he tried to use whom he felt a stronger connection to.

And he actually seems to care about Ford--he actually gave him a birthday present, and when Ford didn't like it, he decided to get drunk and party with him instead to make up for it.

And then when Ford realizes what Bill's plan actually is and refuses to go along with it, and fights back no matter what Bill does, Bill completely breaks down.

After living for trillions of years, he met someone who was like him, and that person rejected him.

He goes berserk, wreaking havoc, being caught by the dimensional authority that he's been taunting for most of his life.

And then after dying and being cast out of hell for being too annoying, he winds up faced with the Axolotl, who sends him to therapy, where he continues to break down further, sending out the book in a desperate attempt to find someone, anyone who will help him break loose and wreak havoc once again.

"You have no friends, and if you died ... who would even miss you?"

I don't know, Bill. Who would even miss you?

In short,

[ID: The front and back of one of Bill's Valentines cards. On the front is a black void with Bill Cipher lying down without his hat, gazing blankly upwards, with the text "I DON'T WANT TO DIE ALONE" above him. On the back is a simple white "TO/FROM" in red, with a red outline illustration of Bill spontaneously growing a mouth and eating a realistic, bloody heart. /end ID]