#does this even make sense ugh if it doesn't I'll re write it | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

patrice-bergerons · 2 years ago

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Omg I soo agree with u on most points! (Esp the q whump and the bond is a bastard one. There have been fics I've read 20k of and dropped because I was like this bond is entirely too stable. He needs to messier and sader. As for q whump, yeah like. Sometimes it just meanders into stereotypes and suddenly q is helpless like... ugh. fanon in general has a tendency to neatly relagate Q to the brains and bond to the brawn, in a manner of speaking and it's lowkey annoying.)

Other than that, I agree with sticking to a few authors fr.

Personally tho... I like fics where bond is miserable hffjjd. I'm here to watch him suffer but not in the like misery porn spectre way if that makes sense. Like if something happens (ahem ahem DRILLS TO THE SKULL AHEM.) then it needs to have a consequence. Canon already has too much misery porn with 0 consequences and I'm tired of it. I want to see the toll these movies take on him! He's messed up! I like fics that address his issues like his alcohol dependence and ofc... his relationship with M. She had such an interesting relationship and dynamic with him and I'm always dying to see more of it. In general, more of his life outside of his whirlwind romance, or lack thereof.

I'm a hypocrite tho, I'll read pretty anything provide it's like. Not Vesper hating. I despise vesper hate she's perfect and if she did something wrong no she didn't.

Jokes aside I hate 00q fics where vesper, or mostly as it happens, Madeline is suddenly a terrible person for no reason other than the author wanted 00q togther. That doesn't need to happen relationships can just. Not work out it's fine. Madeline doesn't need to be evil and working for spectre.

I do like those time travel aus where someone meets the past versions of their friends/partner a lot tho. I want nttd!q to meet cr!bond and go oh wow I can't believe he was worse. How did M deal with him. I should write this actually.

- vl (I'm singing my asks if u don't mind.)

Anon you made SO MANY excellent points in one ask, I wanted to give you the response it deserves and then...work got massively in the way rip. So here we are a week later, with my sincerest apologies.

You are spot on with all of your points. I also find it extremely annoying when fanon relagates Q to the brains and Bond to the brawn because they are both so much more than those neat stereotypes - hell, them figuring this out is a whole Skyfall subplot.

Which is to say, absolutely yes to a Bond who is intelligent and also miserable, because so much of his glamourous lifestyle of sex and fast cars and martinis seems like a facade. Like just because he is not wearing his pain on his sleeve doesn't mean it's not there you know? (Also- Bond and gender performance can make for a whole essay on its own). Here it must also be noted your "bond is entirely too stable" line took me out - hard same though, I know exactly what you mean!

Also HARD SAME re actions needing to have consequences. This, I think, is precisely what sets CR-Skyfall apart from Spectre, and even NTTD, because when Vesper dies or M's orders gets Bond shot, or even when Le Chiffre tortures Bond, we see what it does to him and we go on that journey with him through the pain and come out some place new. Which is entirely missing in Spectre, whether physically with the skull drills or - my God - emotionally for what Blofeld being Bond's foster brother means. Argh!

It also makes me so happy to hear you always want more M & Bond content because that is also the relationship that makes me go absolutely feral and I love it when other people are there for it too. 💖

Lastly yes!!! absolutely yes! re fics that unnecessarily hate on Vesper or Madeleine - although let's face it, Vesper gets more of a free pass because she doesn't commit the unforgivable crime of not dying. when you say "relationships can just. Not work out it's fine" that's it, i could not put it better.

As for a time travel au where nttd!q meets cr!bond both the sheer angst AND crack potential is off the charts - you should absolutely write it!

#james bond #00q #long post #once again very sorry for the delay!#this ask made my week for real though

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journey-to-the-attic · 3 years ago

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What if Ik was like Qiqi? Bad memory, rots if too hot, cryo vision, etc.? All the possible angst and fluff is beautiful. Lucifer would write down notes about all the brothers so that way she doesn't get confused in case she forgets, Levi letting her stay in his room to stay cool, Beel giving her ice cream, ugh in need this brainriot in my life-

i saw this ask early in the morning and i've been thinking about it ever since THIS IS SUCH A GOOD AU PREMISE

hang on i'll try to put my incoherent thoughts so far into words under the cut (heads up i ended up writing a LOT)

because i apparently love to make myself sad, the set up for zombie-ik is going to be really quite angsty

she arrives in the devildom as per the same ik-from-teyvat premise: just a kid from liyue harbour with a cryo vision who's kind of obsessed with seelies and studying them

and then everything would follow the basic outline of jtta, with the main differences being that teyvatian ik's generally more confident and assertive than jtta ik, and also she's able to defend herself more against the various attacks she comes under, so her right hand is intact

she's also just as bad at tech as simeon, because in teyvat the peak of technology is the kameras

then this au diverges at the Event Of Lesson 16

belphie catches ik off guard and incapacitates her vision somehow (he doesn't deactivate it entirely - like he doesn't shatter it or anything - so i guess he just yanks it away and throws it down the hall or something?)

maybe he doesn't prevent ik from accessing it entirely, and she does still have combat knowledge that doesn't require use of a vision, but either way belphie's still way bigger than her, plus he's got all those undefined demon powers, so ik doesn't have an opportunity to fight back

and in THIS deviation, ik does not come back. the others find belphie standing over her body and she does not move and will not wake up no matter what they try

they move her to her room while diavolo and barbatos try to do damage control, and all the while everyone's just kind of in shock

meanwhile, something very odd is happening with the dead child in the house

so it turns out that ik's always carrying a special adeptal talisman that was given to her by xiao a while ago

(alternatively it could have been zhongli, or maybe she somehow befriended mountain shaper/cloud retainer/moon carver after ending up in jueyun karst during so many seelie-studying expeditions, and that's where she got it from)

she didn't know what it did, but she was told to never let it out of her sight and always keep it on her person, because it would protect her in an emergency

what the talisman was MEANT to do was summon the adeptus that made it to her side, but unlike our wholesome xiao-appears-in-the-devildom-and-beats-the-shit-out-of-belphie-for-attacking-his-friend au, it doesn't work because teyvat and the devildom are two entirely different worlds, and adepts is magic isn't powerful enough to summon a being from one to the other

the adeptal power in the talisman did sense that ik was in danger and tried to come into effect, but obviously that didn't work... and it's being continuing to sense danger ever since ik actually died

in the end the adeptal power 'compromises' by imbuing itself into ik, therefore re-animating her into a zombie like qiqi

she wakes up in her room, memory very very fuzzy, feeling very stiff and odd

she finds her vision lying in the hallway when she ventures out, and then she hears a lot of shouting from nearby, so she follows the sound and walks in on mammon attempting to throttle belphie while the other brothers try (half heartedly) to stop him

cue the relief and crying and hugs, while belphie stands very far away and silently melts into a guilty and awkward goop

everyone's so relieved that they don't even notice how off ik's acting

a bunch of conversation happens, eventually they figure out that she's not so much alive again as undead (though, because the concept of adepts and talismans is lost on them, they don't know HOW it happened)

SKIPPING over all the family angst that happens as the other brothers try to figure out how they want to treat belphie now, because he's still their brother but also he literally murdered ik, but also ik's not dead anymore??

anyway, about ik and how different she is now that she's a zombie... (based heavily off of qiqi's lore in-game)

she's always cold to the touch, partially because she no longer has blood circulation, partially because she uses her cryo vision to cool herself to prevent decay

like qiqi, she has to do regular stretches to stop rigor mortis from setting in. she doesn't have great control over her reanimated muscles, so she moves very slowly - when she does move even moderately quickly, it's very jerky and imprecise, and she's liable to cause destruction

her face is basically always completely blank, because it's pretty difficult for her to school her facial muscles precisely enough to form an expression. it's not impossible, but she usually just doesn't think it's worth the effort, especially when she's practically unable to feel any strong emotions - so she just doesn't feel the need to do anything with her face

over time, though, the brothers are able to figure out that some things do get a genuine reaction out of her

for example, at some point levi asks tentatively if she'd like to talk about seelies (since, while she was living, she'd go on tangents about them for ages at a time), and ik just lights up. she gets the closest thing to a smile that he's seen on her since she died, her voice is a lot more animated, and she talks in much longer sentences

(normally she speaks in a very quiet monotone, often omitting any unnecessary words, and her sentences don't usually exceed five words)

(because she's so slow-talking and slow-moving, every now and then one of the others will lose their patience with her, and do something like snap at her or cut off the conversation that was originally happening. ik's face doesn't change much, but somehow something about her expression looks so infinitely hurt that it's like being stabbed in the chest)

or, another example: one day, on a shopping trip while ik stays with the purgatory hall folk, the brothers get this giant custom-made plushie based off of the drawings that ik's shown them of seelies in the past

they give it to her, and she stands there silently holding it for a really long time. then her face starts twisting a little, and they panic - but then ik finally figures out how to do it, and she just gives them the biggest, brightest smile they've seen for what feels like an eternity

CRITICAL HIT. everyone is crying

ik's memory is awful - if something doesn't reoccur within at least a week of its initial happening, or if she isn't reminded of someone's existence in her life regularly, she'll forget about them pretty much entirely

her memories from before her death are really fuzzy as well - so she doesn't actually remember being killed by belphie (though this is partially because it was traumatic enough for her brain to also block out the memory)

but, even if she doesn't fully remember the details (or even sometimes the names) of her devildom friends, subconsciously she still knows she likes them - even at the times when she doesn't really remember who they are

which includes belphie himself, because she did have some friendly encounters with him before the attack (we are skimming all the guilt and stuff that belphie himself goes through because i think we've got enough angst in this au already)

one time lucifer is away for about a fortnight on business for diavolo or something, and then, when he gets back and says hello to ik, she looks at him for a minute, then asks cluelessly, 'who are you?'

not gonna lie, lucifer tears up a little bit

in the end, he's able to jog ik's memory enough from her to recognise him as the same guy she knows and feels safe with, but the moment still really sticks with him

it'd be at this point that he decides to start helping ik keep that notebook of things to remember. he enlists satan for help and gets a nice pretty blue one with lots of pages, but small and light enough to be portable, along with a pen holder

they mark out all the sections and everything - each titled things like 'to do', 'where things are', 'what to do when...', etc.

most of these sections are left blank for ik to write in herself, with the exception is the first section, which satan and lucifer have already filled out

it's titled 'your friends' - and, as the name might give away, it's a record of ik's friends for her to refresh her memory from to make sure she doesn't forget them

for each friend, there's a nice clear picture of their face, their name, a short description of what they're like, and a little message to ik from the friend in question. there are spaces left for ik to add new friends, but so far she hasn't yet

they get solomon to do a funky magic thing where he connects ik's notebook to blank backup one, so that anything written in ik's notebook also appears in the backup - so that there's something to fall back on if ik loses the original, which her poor memory makes her liable to do

there's a tracking charm on it, but you never know, she'll find a way

lucifer is generally the one holding onto the backup and he doesn't look at it much, but he does have a flick through it regularly to check up on ik - just to make sure she's not been having any major troubles that she hasn't told anyone about, as well as to make sure she hasn't forgotten about the notebook entirely

as per a suggestion from asmo, ik starts highlighting the stuff in the notebook that she considers very important things to remember, and one day lucifer notices that she's highlighted all of the profiles in the 'your friends' section

he tears up a bit again

zombie ik mostly stays home at the house of lamentation at first - there's not much point in getting her to go to school when she's going to forget everything she's learnt if it's not constantly reinforced, plus ik herself shows precisely zero interest in it

but eventually the others figure it must be boring for her to just sit around at home on her own for ages - levi's home sometimes, but he's usually busy doing his online lessons - plus she always seems a little fuzzy on her memory of them when they get back home, and even though it keeps happening enough for them to be numb to it,

ik's not sure if she has a concept of boredom anymore, she just kind of... exists. and that's it. but it is nice when the others take her out for little day trips

sometimes she tags along to the r.a.d., sometimes barbatos uses his free time to take her out to town (since he doesn't attend classes), sometimes some of the brothers will use their lunch break to go visit her at the house

someone's always with her whenever she's out of the house because she gets lost really easily, and she'll very rapidly forget where she was supposed to be in the first place unless she wrote it in her notebook, which she often doesn't because, in moment, she doesn't think it's important enough. there's also a whole host of other stuff that means she needs to have an eye on her

for example, she needs help climbing stairs because, even with the exercises, her still somewhat stiff muscles make it pretty hard. before beel added a line in her notebook that told her to go get help whenever she needed to climb stairs, she'd literally spend ten minutes very slowly hauling herself up them at a time

also, sometimes she trips and falls, and she'll often just lie there on the floor for ages, wondering what she's supposed to do next

if you didn't realise til now, zombie ik is a little bit stupid

but it's alright! the brothers take excellent care of her

lucifer came up with the aforementioned notebook thing, and he's also extremely vigilant when it comes to keeping track of ik's activities. if there is even the slightest change in her usual routine, he WILL know about it. if there is a single problem that he even suspects she might not be able to solve, he WILL take care of it. if a demon at the r.a.d. even thinks about taking advantage of ik's kind of mindless state, he WILL smite them. you could call him overbearing, but in her zombie state, ik kind of needs it - and she's not really aware enough to realise his overprotectiveness in the first place

mammon is in misery for a good while because, even though the kid's walking and talking, she's just not the same, and every time he sees her he's reminded of the fact that he got there too late to stop her dying. for this reason, he's a bit distant for a while, but eventually he comes to terms with the fact that he can't change the past, and decides that he'll carry on taking care of his kid FOREVER. he's the one most commonly accompanying ik places, the one who keeps track of the rare things that get strong positive reactions from her, and also the one who knows best how to get those rare smiles out of her

levi's a good guy for ik to just chill with. he lets her play his games with him whenever she expresses interest, even though she's incredibly slow-learning, and her stiff fingers make it really hard to manipulate controllers, use keyboards/mice, or tap on a screen - but he doesn't mind that she's almost laughably bad at everything she tries, as long as she seems to be having fun. he also doesn't stop doing those rants about his own interests, because ik still listens attentatively every time - and that's the important part to him, not the fact that she'll likely forget what he told her soon. ik also likes it in levi's room because, subconsciously, the blue glow of the water reminds her of the blue glow of the seelies back home

satan lets her sit with him for as long as she likes, and will more often than not start quietly reading aloud to her when she does. sometimes she'll nestle up against him to listen to him read, and even though it's making him kind of chilly, he doesn't mind, so he lets it happen. she asks him a lot of questions, many of which get repeated because she forgot that he's already answered them, but he stays patient with her and explains things to her with as much detail as she likes. he also reminds ik about her notebook regularly, to make sure she doesn't forget to look at it

asmo doesn't treat her much different - he keeps doting on her, painting her nails and doing her hair as usual. this is part of the reason that ik confides in him a lot - his demeanour doesn't change like the others' do, even when she's telling him some TRULY gut wrenching stuff. of course, asmo is feeling the painful emotional stabby-stabby as much as the others, but he's really good at covering it up with his usual sunny smile, continuing to treat ik the same way he did when she was alive, and reassuring her that don't worry, we all still love you even though you can't smile for us much

beel is the second-most common companion for ik when she goes out, because he worries constantly about her mobility, especially when coupled with her size. he's the one who puts together a nice simple stretching routine for ik to keep up with, reminds her to do them at the same time every day, and always does them alongside her, never mind the fact that they don't really do anything for his own workouts. after some time, ik actually begins remembering to do her exercises on her own- she'll come to beel at the right time and ask if they can start - and it's basically his proudest achievement

and belphie...

he physically cannot make eye contact with ik for a good few months. the main difference between this and any other universe, where ik properly comes back, is that ik is unable to have a proper confrontation with him, and therefore he's unable to properly apologise for murdering her - because she doesn't even remember it happening. so there's never any closure.

skipping over all the actual drama this creates, belphie eventually resolves himself to move on - never forgiving himself, never forgetting it happened, but acknowledging that it's unfair to ik to keep lingering on it, as if he WANTS her to remember that extremely traumatic moment

so he becomes just as, if not more vigilant about her well-being than lucifer

because she has no need for it, ik doesn't usually sleep, and often she'll sidle into one of the brother's rooms late at night to seek company - she'll wander about for a bit, then chooses the room that she hears the most activity from, and just sit there with whichever brother she's chosen

and one day she chooses belphie, while he's staying up late looking at the stars

he feels so incredibly awkward, because even though he watches over her, he doesn't spent a lot of time with her directly. but then, maybe partially because of his influence as the avatar of sloth, she slowly curls up by his side and starts snoozing there

sure, there's a fountain in the observatory, but belphie's about to rival it with this fountain of tears

anyway - you know what? little jiangshi ik is in very good hands, so i think she'll be just fine

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krakenartificer · 4 years ago

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When I got my ADHD diagnosis, I looked at the questions on the screening form and thought, "If this result comes back positive, then I'm definitely not the only person in my family who has it." Questions like

"Have difficulty finishing one activity before starting another one" and

"I finish others' sentences before they can finish it themselves" and

"have trouble staying on one topic when talking"

...I thought were just weird quirks of my family, but no. When I got my results, I contacted my cousin, and she contacted her sisters and mother, and .. .. yeah. Basically everyone in my dad's side of the family is ADHD.

Now there are some problems with that, obviously, (getting family reunions to stick to a schedule is lol no) but there are some really fantastic perks. For one thing, no one in that family minds if I interrupt them while they're talking ... everyone's happy to keep 3 conversations going at the same time .... and no one minds if you fidget constantly.

But the best perk -- at least that I've found so far -- is that all of our parents have coping mechanisms, and passed them on to us. When I found myself unable to handle tasks with more than one step, my father didn't say "WTF are you talking about? It's easy! Just do the thing! Stop being lazy!" No, he could relate completely, and he sat down and taught me how to handle that.

So today, I'm going to pass on to you the coping mechanism my dad taught me for handling the "cannot put tasks in order / cannot get started / forget what I'm doing" problem. You'll need to adjust it for your own needs and your own struggles, but hopefully it'll be helpful in setting up your own process.

I'm going to walk through it with a big project I'm doing at work, just to have a concrete example. That will make some of the discussion specific to computer programming and technical writing, but I do the same thing for all my projects, so hopefully it'll be generalizable.

So to set the stage:

I was supposed to modify this piece of code -- we'll call it "Rosetta" -- to make it handle call data as well as what it was already doing. I did that.... but we now need the code to be able to handle calls (if that's wanted) but also to be able to handle NOT having calls (if THAT'S wanted).

Which is just .... ugh. So much. SOOOOOOOO much.

So. Break it down.

Step one is to get some recording mechanism - pen and paper, whiteboard, blank computer document, whatever

(Technically, this is a different coping strategy, so we'll just take a quick detour: WRITE THINGS DOWN. Your brain is shit at remembering things, and anyway you've already got limits on your working memory; why would you choose to tie up some of that limited resource in something that could be accomplished with literal stone-age technology? Don't even try to remember things. WRITE THEM DOWN.)

I like sticky notes: they're readily available in all offices, they're pretty cheap, and (most importantly) they can be rearranged if it turns out that I forgot a step or put the steps in the wrong order (which, like, let's be honest, I am definitely going to do). But they kill trees and create unnecessary methane emissions, so I've recently switched over to using virtual sticky notes. That's the format I'm going to use for this example, but you can use anything that meets your purposes.

So, you've got something to write with, you're ready to start.

The first question is: what are you trying to accomplish here? What would "done" look like? What is our goal?

I need to end up with a version of Rosetta that will make the correct results if you don't want calls, and will also make the correct results if you do.

The goal here is that you end up with a statement that you can definitively say (a) Yes this is what I wanted or (b)No this is not right because _______

In this case, in order to do that, I'll need to define "correct results" for both call- and non-call versions. But if I have that nailed down, then this statement meets that criterion: I'll be able to say "Yes, this is what I wanted: see, it makes the correct result for calls, and it makes the correct result for not-calls". Or else I'll be able to say, "No, this is wrong: see, it makes the correct result for calls, but on not-calls it does X and we wanted Y."

I have a clear, definitive standard about what I need to do and whether or not I've done it.

But there was a prerequisite there: I need to define "correct results".

So that goes on a sticky note: Create test that will compare my results to existing call!Rosetta-results and to existing not-call!Rosetta-results.

[ID: Two blue boxes, one on top of the other. The top one says in white text "Create test to compare my results to call!results" The bottom one says "Create test to compare my results to not-call!results"] OK. So now we know what we want. The second question is: what do we need to do in order to get that? Here's where the sticky-note recording system really shines, because you don't have to answer this question sequentially. You just start writing down every single thing that is not the way you want it to end up.

I need it to remove commas in the python script, not the bash script

I need to delete the first part of the get_runs() function, which doesn't do anything

I need to delete the rest of the parameters passed to build_query_script() function, because runs encompasses all the others

while we're on that subject, runs doesn't even need the group_variable, so let's pull that out of the parameter document

we also have a dmf defined, which the bash script demands but doesn't use; let's change that demand

since we're changing the structure of the parameter document, we don't need to pull new metrics for each run, so let's move that outside of the runs() loop and only run once

right now the parameter document is ALMOST but not quite "one row per template". Make it so it's actually one row per template.

among other things, that's going to require making it possible for a template to be followed by nothing at all, since it's the assumption that a template will have a metrics block after it that makes it not quite one row per template. So make it possible to publish a template with a null block

the other thing that's weirdly hard-coded is the definition of what a block looks like. Would it make more sense to separate that out into an input file, like the parameters document? On the one hand, that would make it much more flexible; on the other hand, that's another piece that can break. Don't know. Put a question mark on it.

etc

Here's what it looks like at the end of this step:

[ID: A black and white background showing many boxes in two different shades of blue, all with white text. Some of the boxes are overlapping each other.]

As you can see, at this phase you don't need to worry about any of the following:

ordering the tasks. Just stick 'em right on top of each other for now

how you're going to do any of this. Right now we just need to know what, not how

sticking to only one project. As I was working on this, it occurred to me that this whole process would have been a heck of a lot easier if someone had just made a user manual for this, and since I have to go through all the code line-by-line anyway, I might as well write up the documentation while I'm at it. (To help out future-me, if nothing else.) So I put those tasks on another color of sticky note.

making notes that make any ***ing sense to anyone else. This process is for you, and only you need to understand what you're talking about it. Phrase it in ways that make sense to your brain, and to hell with anyone else.

on that topic, also don't worry about making steps that are "too small" or "too dumb" to write down. This is for you. If "save document" feels like a step to you, then write it down.

You also don't need to get every single step involved in the project right now. Get as many as you can, to be sure, but the process is designed on the assumption that you ARE going to forget important steps, and is designed to handle that.

When you can't think of any more steps, then the third question is: what order does it make sense to do these in? Are there any steps that would be easier if you did another step first? Are there any that literally cannot be done unless another step is complete?

This is also a good place to group steps if they fit together nicely. When I used physical sticky notes, I used two different sizes; digitally I can of course make them whatever size I want.

So I have several documentation steps that (a) do need to be written to make sense to other people and (b) I really need to know what's going on before I can do that. I could write them now, but if I did, I'd just end up re-writing them based on things that change as I'm coding. So we'll move those to the end:

[ID: Three dark blue boxes with white text. They read "Create step-by-step instructions for creating your own metric agg", "Create step-by-step instructions for modifying a metric", "Create step-by-step instructions for modifying a query."]

These parts, though -- if I had all the variable structures written down, I could look at them while I'm coding. Then I won't have to keep scrolling back and forth in the code, trying to remember if it's an array or a dictionary while also trying to remember what part of the code I was working on. Brilliant. Move that to the front.

[ID: Seven dark blue boxes with white text, three large, four small. The first one is large and says "Write up explanation of how Rosetta works." The second one is large and says "Document structure of all variables." Attached to that one are four smaller boxes that say "All_blocks", "Runs", "metric", "New_block". The third large one says "Document what qb_parameters.csv contains"]

Also, while I'm at it, I should get the list of variables I need to document -- then I won't have to keep scrolling to find them. Make those sub-steps.

I definitely keep needing to look up what's in the parameters document, so I should write that down, too. For the user manual I also should write down what's in the metric document, but I don't need that for myself, so I can send that to the end.

[ID: The same three dark blue boxes from two screenshots ago (create step-by-step instructions for metric agg, modifying a metric, and modifying a query), now with another dark blue box in front of them with white text that says "Document what granular_metrics.tsv contains."]

These five are all small steps, and are all related in that they don't actually (hopefully) change the functionality of the code; they're just stuff left over from prior versions of this code. So we can lump them all together.

[ID: Five light blue boxes with white text that say "Delete first part of get_runs()", "Have build_query_script only receive the "run" parameter" "Delete dmf" "Move metrics=get_metrics() outside build_all_blocks (all the way up to the top level?" "Delete group_variable from qp_parameters"]

My brain likes this better, so that I can keep track of fewer "main steps", but that's just a peculiarity of me -- you should lump and split however you prefer to make this process easier for you.

[ID: The same five boxes from the prior screenshot, now all made smaller and attached to a larger box that says "Remove Legacy Code"]

Keep going, step by step, sticky by sticky, until you've got them in order. If -- while you're doing this -- you remember another thing you need to do, write it on a sticky and slap it on the pile; you don't have to stop what you're doing to deal with it, because it's written down and it's on the pile and it will get processed; you can just keep working on the thing you're on right now.

[ID: All the same boxes from the first screenshot, now in a neat row. Some of the original boxes have been grouped together. The ones that were said to be at the beginning of the process are on the left and the ones that were said to be at the end are on the right.]

Step four: for the love of all that's holy, SAVE THIS LIST.

Write it on your cubicle whiteboard where it won't be erased

write it on a piece of paper and tape it to the office wall

send an email to yourself

take a picture with your phone

I don't care but save it.

When I used physical sticky notes, I kept them all on the hood of my cubicle's shelf. Now, as you can see, I use Powerpoint, which is irritating af but does allow me to keep everything in a single document, which I can write down the path of.

[ID: White text on a black background says "open ~/Documents/Rosetta\ Modifications\ and \Documentation.pptx" The next line says "Notes in Rocketbook pg 10-12, 16" The next line says "Turn that into documentation that can be used for making modifications."]

And now (finally) you can answer the question "How would I even get started on that?" You look at the first thing on the list, and you treat it as its own project. You can hyperfocus on this step and completely forget about everything else this project requires, because everything you need to remember for the rest of it is written down.

If, as you're working a step, you think of something else you need to do for the big project, write it on a sticky and slap it on the pile. Don't even worry about trying to order it or identify sub-steps; as long as it's not blocking the thing you need to work on right now, you don't have to care. Just stick that bugger anywhere at all on the list, and go back to what you were doing. When you un-hyperfocus and come back to look at your list, there'll be a big sticky note stuck sideways across all the rest of the steps, and you'll remember to file and order it then.

Other benefits of this system

1) The first question really helps with unclear directions from your boss. You can take whatever they told you to do, and translate it into a requirement that is clearly either met or not-met, and then run it back by the boss.

If they say, "No, no, we want ______" then phew! You just saved a huge miscommunication and weeks of wasted work! What a good employee you are! What an excellent team player with strong communication skills!

If they say "Yes, that's what I want," then you know -- for sure -- what it is you're trying to accomplish. Your anxiety is reduced, and your boss thinks you're super-conscientious.

(And if your boss is a jerk who likes to move the goalposts and blame it on their subordinates, then have this conversation over email, so you can show it to their boss or to HR should it become necessary.)

2) Having this project map means that when you spend an hour staring at the requirements and trying to figure out how to get started (which, let's be honest, you were definitely going to do anyway) ... When your boss/coworker comes by and says, "How's it going?" Instead of having to say "I haven't even started 😞" You can say, "Pretty well! I've got all the steps mapped out and am getting ready to start on implementation!" and show them your list, and they think you're very organized and meticulous. 3) Sometimes, especially in corporate jobs, you and your coworkers will run into a problem that's too big for even Neurotypicals to hold all in their heads. At that point, the NTs will be completely lost -- they've never had to develop a way to handle projects they can't just look at and know how to get started. So then you pipe up in the meeting and say, "OK, well, what exactly are we trying to accomplish?" and everybody at the conference table looks at you like you're a goddamned genius and you don't have to tell them that you use this exact same process to remember how to make a sandwich 😅

4) Having this project map makes it so much easier to stop work and then start it up again later, but this post is already really really really long, so I'm going to address that in a separate (really really long) post.

#adhd #adhd life #tips #semi-solicited advice #gpoy #your mileage may vary #long post #very long post #sorry I wish I wrote more concisely too

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punkscowardschampions · 5 years ago

Text

Sick Kids Group Chat

sonmychest: 🤗 tigerbalm: 👋🧡 tigerbalm: it's been so long! 🙀 how are you?? sonmychest: I know! I suck sonmychest: don't want to be the youtuber spending ten minutes apologizing for not being here though sonmychest: I'm doing pretty good right now, how are you? 😚 tigerbalm: it's a bad day, not a bad life...is what I would caption if I was an instagram influencer or something 😸😸 brainpain: 🦸 speaking for me when I haven't streamed in days LOL sonmychest: 🤭🤭 sonmychest: at least we have reasons for being that #extra that aren't the vague notion of NEEDING a break from taking pictures of our ☕ brainpain: I do spend LOTS of time in a dark room but not for 📸 no flash photography PLEASE 😵 inandout: your feed just updated, Lo brainpain: 👮🚓🚨 sonmychest: stalking or hacking? sonmychest: either way I might need those expertise brainpain: I had a 🌈✨🧁 FIGHT ME, Zachary tigerbalm: it is pretty tbh inandout: friend request, but it's not as if I don't have zero hacking or stalking skills sonmychest: wait, what happened to the anonymity rules??? sonmychest: where's @gotspoons and what have you done with her?! inandout: you missed the overthrowing of a tyrant inandout: not really, but the rule book is gone gotspoons: going to pretend I was summoned by mention, not notification gotspoons: say how you really feel, Zach! 😔 inandout: I said not really, rowboat gotspoons: I have 👀 and 👂 everywhere so you better be nice 😏🤭 gotspoons: but no, hi again, @sonmychest! we missed you! gotspoons: it seemed the whole no names no real life details thing was more of a hindrance than a help to the whole goal of this group, so we came to the conclusion by majority, and the higher ups were all okay with it, providing everyone under a certain age got their parents to sign off and we all used the same common sense we use on other areas of the web gotspoons: so feel free to introduce yourself by real name if you would like, but it's not necessary if you would not 😊 gotspoons: reintroduce, I should say tigerbalm: we shared selfies & everyone was 😻😻😻 brainpain: learned what a sex god @tooexhaustedtolivevicariously aka Rich is sonmychest: 😱😱😱 sonmychest: can't believe I've missed so much sonmychest: need to get better at socialization, my mammy is right 😂 brainpain: an unrivalled love story brainpain: not that he's here to back me up on that inandout: Paris and Helen who? Romeo and Juliet who? Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII who? tigerbalm: wait, those are all 💔😿!! brainpain: he's being a brainpain: insert a swear word of your choice sonmychest: *stage whispers* it's not jealousy though, is it? sonmychest: clearly, fill me in on all the nuances whilst I frantically try to find a picture of myself that's even one 😻 brainpain: he's a 👶 you already know brainpain: but Rich will be leaving me for some uni girl 🤓 so he's not wrong about the doomed part sonmychest: face that launched a thousand ships is a really great insta bio though sonmychest: right, so we have Rich, Zach...who else? gotspoons: Rosie here 🤗 brainpain: Lauren tigerbalm: & me, Robyn inandout: the new girl who started the revolution is Zelda inandout: @ihatemyguts sonmychest: no way sonmychest: a fellow nerd, or at least child-of-a-nerd sonmychest: 'cos I'm Kara and I don't totally hate this photo [selfie] tigerbalm: 😻😻 tigerbalm: you look so like I imagined you, except I thought maybe you'd be 👼 tigerbalm: should we all send new pics? brainpain: [does because any excuse] brainpain: they'll be buried tigerbalm: [a selfie that's even shyer than the first one she sent] gotspoons: [the same photo as before] inandout: if I must [some ridiculous selfie] tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: This is a nice welcome back tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: and I've only been to physio brainpain: NOT ready for another selfie drop from you, boy brainpain: I'll be on my fainting couch brainpain: also hi tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: Perhaps I should save your 🦴s and my pride when poor Kara, hello again btw, has to pretend to swoon too brainpain: 🦸 has great taste brainpain: we all love a shy boy tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: My teachers undoubtedly wish I were shy, make their lives a lot easier tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: [a photo] here we are anyway, I hope you found a soft surface suitable for you, Lauren brainpain: ☁ tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: Ah, so you're the 👼 brainpain: LMAO 😈 brainpain: but you're looking angelic sir sonmychest: how are you ALL so cute sonmychest: this keeps happening, omg tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: 👼 face hides a multitude of 😈 sins apparently inandout: but reading between the lines, who else is making you swoon/stalk/hack inandout: that's my question tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: Well spotted, Zachary 🔎 sonmychest: 🙈 ugh, I'm so embarrassing sonmychest: but we can pretend it's all spilling out now because I played it SO cool in the actual conversation, right 😬😅 inandout: that's the official story, everyone'll confirm sonmychest: thanks, I need the backup so I can also pretend I have lots of friends and a normal social life gotspoons: we are your friends, Kara! gotspoons: though are normal is different from most tigerbalm: & you're coming to my birthday party & even though you have to stand on the other side of the room to Zach, it's still social tigerbalm: OH & we were talking about potentially meeting up!! All of us brainpain: keep it 6ft, children inandout: I'll be in the garden with my date, you can have the indoors with yours inandout: collectively, because we're all speed dating here now inandout: proud of you for picking someone outside this circle sonmychest: GAH so much exciting information today!!! sonmychest: 😁 sonmychest: obviously, I figured no one needed the drama of me falling for you, Zach sonmychest: 💀 not cute inandout: there's already a book and film about it, the chance has been thoroughly missed brainpain: Ignore him, Zelda's nothing but thrilled to find someone else in her age bracket brainpain: 👶👶 brainpain: hit us with your 💞 please sonmychest: well, I didn't just re-log into this chat today, I went on all my old forums because well, boredom, we can all relate, right? sonmychest: what I thought would be the least promising one was the sonmychest: not a dating site, I'm not 100 but you know the kind sonmychest: anyway, the CUTEST boy starts talking to me and he's also really funny and nice ??? tigerbalm: OMG! Did you swap selfies there too? sonmychest: not yet sonmychest: because he sounds so 😻😻 sonmychest: and he wants to talk to me again and he might not if we do tigerbalm: you're 😻😻😻 Kara brainpain: what she said brainpain: + if he's as funny, nice, all of that, as you said brainpain: I doubt he's a shallow jerk inandout: are you a good judge of character or not? inandout: what it comes down to sonmychest: oh, thank you guys! sonmychest: I don't know sonmychest: I think I am sonmychest: he didn't immediately come out with weird requests or weird 📸 of his own and that's a massive start on that site, I was honestly there to 🗑 my account but he changed my mind brainpain: I'll PM you the spooky stories my sister sends me about guys, it'll make you feel better brainpain: you'd know if he was one sonmychest: 🤭 do, can compare notes sonmychest: we honestly just talked about totally normal, nerdy things, it wasn't even a little sketch brainpain: ✉️ + 100000000s brainpain: hold up tigerbalm: that sounds 🧡 & so does this boy tigerbalm: awwhhh sonmychest: [sends the description he sent her slow your roll gal lol] sonmychest: assuming he isn't the archetypal internet weirdo from the 90s scare tactics tigerbalm: WOW inandout: tall, dark and handsome inandout: original sonmychest: okay, I know that covers a lot of bases sonmychest: but someone has to be brainpain: continuing to ignore you, Zach sonmychest: I get it though sonmychest: it's not like I even care what he looks like though, so even if the pics aren't exactly that description brainpain: not every man can be my Rich but doesn't make them 👹/🤡/👻/👽/👥 brainpain: trust your gut, it's not that body part that's failing you tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: 👹 is a solid representation but the hair needs to be longer tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: at the risk of making myself or Zachary appear like overly protective boys, I think as long as you're as sensible as you surely are with this, then there's no harm in the back and forth tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: so if you were going to meet this person IRL, he could perhaps come to the group meet-up, that would be a good way to do it? brainpain: *🧝🏻 that's what needs to be said about your representation tigerbalm: Great idea, Rich! 😺 tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: when the beard comes in I'll look more Gimli than Elrond but I'll take the compliment 👽 babe from outerspace brainpain: who's watching the LoTRs with me? gotspoons: count me out, I'm the worst film buddy ever 😴 ihatemyguts: how many naps could you have in 20hr28mins assuming we're watching everything extended release 'cos duh ihatemyguts: 🥳 go hard or go home 🥳 brainpain: that's you in ihatemyguts: of course ihatemyguts: long since stopped asking for a pause every time I gotta 💩 ihatemyguts: adept at catching up with the plot is a life skill I didn't expect to gain like this but 🙌 gotspoons: 😅 I could do the whole 20hr28mins and that not be a record for how many hours I've slept consecutively brainpain: I'll act it out for you, I can get the 🧝🏼🏹 costume together during the pauses brainpain: dressing up box runneth over sonmychest: 🙋 dibs Arwen sonmychest: my old Katniss cosplay can be repurposed with some bedsheets and a 👸 vibe to it brainpain: that makes Rich your daddy 👀 you, babe sonmychest: 😖😳 nooooooooooo brainpain: I'll be Galadriel if only so I can speak to my man telepathically 💕 brainpain: swerving off book for that love connection ihatemyguts: obviously eye of sauron ihatemyguts: jokes write themselves inandout: hair of a hobbit wig so likewise inandout: and you know, a jew, gonna be the one to handle the 💎 tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: How hairy are your feet, a pickup line that doesn't get thrown about enough inandout: not sending you free feet pics inandout: PM for prices though tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: Respect the hustle, Zachary tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: but I have clearly pledged myself and my allegiance to an e-girl already 🧝🏼🏹 brainpain: changed my Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim name to Galadriel for you, Richard, you've officially made me basic brainpain: will cite it in the divorce tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: as long as I can proudly produce said divorce to every mouthbreather that calls me a freak, I am okay with that tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: devastated, naturally 💔 but okay brainpain: hit me up for multiple re-marriages at your convenience, I like that for us tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: Make a solid livestream 👰💒🤵 gotspoons: I'll get officiated! tigerbalm: imagine if any of us actually did get together cos of this forum gotspoons: You never know, Robyn gotspoons: it would be so adorable 😊 tigerbalm: Kara is giving me hope that online dating doesn't have to be a minefield sonmychest: don't give up yet! sonmychest: you're so lovely, a total catch tigerbalm: there still isn't a blushing 😸 emoji & I NEED it ihatemyguts: a travesty ihatemyguts: who do we need to @ for that brainpain: @fibrofog brainpain: he was a BIG DEAL ihatemyguts: 😏 hoping he comes back and I can 👰💒🤵 him obvs brainpain: 🔺 between me/him/Rich was prime in my life ihatemyguts: glory dayz brainpain: if he doesn't show up to stop our first wedding ihatemyguts: Zach won't even properly date me until we're confirmed #foreveralone at 18 inandout: you don't call this properly dating? inandout: @Kara you've got yourself a hater before your romance has fully taken off ihatemyguts: oi, don't drag me in to your 🧂 behaviour ihatemyguts: I'm very nice, I swear inandout: that's just how I taste inandout: she knows brainpain: if I didn't know my CF facts I'd be calling for a ban brainpain: that sounds filthy sonmychest: first declaring Rich my daddy, now 👅 Zach 😲😲😲 sonmychest: I'm also quite nice but not that kind of nice, I 🤞 tigerbalm: I don't think I wanna know.... inandout: But I'll tell you inandout: when we sweat, we lose too much salt, one of our many flaws inandout: on a hot day, you could lick us and taste it, if we like you enough to let you sonmychest: maybe that can be enough of a selling point? sonmychest: if crush boy talks to me again and it invariably comes up inandout: he might get to see it crystallise on your skin, not 💎 or ✨ but hey sonmychest: such a sexy condition, when you leave out all the mucus inandout: ZZ top is feeling it, she wants to properly date me ihatemyguts: 🧂 is a flavour I can enjoy pretty unrestricted ihatemyguts: let me have some pleasure tigerbalm: do the normies flirt like this too? tigerbalm: Kara you'll have to tell us, when you go further undercover ihatemyguts: don't know how lucky you are to have that pickup line in your back pocket ihatemyguts: just add tequila and a lemon and you've got a good time sonmychest: I'll 100% report back, providing he doesn't go 👻 brainpain: you need a drink when a boy lovingly strokes your hair only to feel the dent in your 💀 sonmychest: but also, to work out if your amazing hair is real or nah brainpain: I have too many split ends to be asked if it's a wig sonmychest: I ✂ my own sonmychest: and not often enough 😅 brainpain: don't reach for the bleach cos Robbie sees you as a blonde, there's my sisterly/old lady advice sonmychest: oh God, with these brows? sonmychest: I can swear I won't do that, along with meet up with internet randos alone brainpain: I'd volunteer to come along but I don't do disappearing into the background brainpain: would wear a trenchcoat for the right 💸💸 gotspoons: Normies definitely TRY to use our disabilities as a way to flirt with us, with varying success gotspoons: the amount of time I spend in bed is nothing to be 😏 about, honestly gotspoons: even if I was also chiming in to confirm blondes do have more fun, when they've had all their vitamins, a perfect amount of sleep, the stars have aligned JUST right... 🤭 tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: as resident ♿ user, they most ask if IT 'works', which is a bizarre level of care for people who aren't concerned about how me getting into their establishment really 'works' tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: and, my dear, you are a terrible third wheel tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: 🔻 suits you better than obscurity 😎 brainpain: but I am a fun time with the TBI having increased the impulsiveness + removing the few inhibitions I did have 😉 brainpain: inappropriate sexual activity is a listed symptom 🤞 boys ihatemyguts: definitely a case of 'okay when I point it out to embolden myself, creepy if you do it' ihatemyguts: think some normies point out their flaws to be endearing but idk, is low-key a disability superpower guys, + 1 for us brainpain: like, what does that mean? Inappropriate for who? Answers on a ✉️ please ihatemyguts: could range from, science, you're being a prude to calling you a master criminal on the low brainpain: so many of my symptoms could describe anyone in their teens or early 20s brainpain: Rich, write a smart boy uni essay on it tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: depending on the bit that gets damaged, could be the same part that isn't yet fully developed in young people tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: checks out 🧠 brainpain: you're SO clever brainpain: you'll be fighting off more than one 🤓 girl tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: I'm not sure about that, on either count tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: though the chair is a useful battering ram when it needs to be brainpain: I'm into it tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: then you can hitch a ride, of course brainpain: reserved™ tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: the parking is unparalleled brainpain: not allowed to drive, you are my transport now, no pressure gotspoons: Me either, who can? gotspoons: need to work out the carpool situation brainpain: my housemate will, she owes me 10000s of favours inandout: + my parents tigerbalm: mine too but they're a lot to inflict upon anyone sonmychest: ^^hard same tigerbalm: maybe we get ourselves there unless someone can't? tigerbalm: & those people speak up sonmychest: That makes sense to me brainpain: ok, is there anyone who needs a lift? ihatemyguts: I'm good tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: likewise gotspoons: I'll make a permanent post where people can register interest in the meet-up, as well as need for a lift gotspoons: so anyone who can offer a lift, can respond there too, sound good guys? 😊 inandout: cool inandout: very un-tyrant like gotspoons: thank you, Zach 😏

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