#fun fact: my total word count is over 52k.

[necrotic-nephilim]

Fandom: Batman and Robin (Comics) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Underage Relationships: Dick Grayson/Damian Wayne Characters: Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne Additional Tags: Omega Dick Week (DCU), Omega Dick Grayson, Alpha Damian Wayne, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, First Time, Oral Sex, Dominant Bottom, Topping from the Bottom, Gentle Sex, Praise Kink, Soft Dom Dick Grayson, Control Issues, Unrequited Crush, Pre-Flashpoint (DCU), Dick Grayson is Batman Summary: Damian is pent up, lashing out, and Dick is just about at his wit's end about it. When he tries to talk to Damian about it, he learns that Damian is suppressing his own ruts to have some form of control over himself. Dick convinces Damian to give up control to Dick, instead. - Omega Dick Week 2024 - Day 7: Free Day

[kendall-coded]

hi guys! i have finished up my last event of the year and i just wanted to take some time to check in and review what i have been able to accomplish!

first and foremost, i would like to say that i will be taking a break from writing and possibly also a break from posting in general. i am not sure for how long, but at least for the rest of the year and maybe into early next year (definitely not for forever!) i am actually going to take a break this time, rather than saying i will take a break and then, you know, not doing it. i am going to be pausing my wips during this time (including all prompt fills that i still have in progress. they’re coming at some point guys, i promise!) the holiday season is not typically kind to me, so i just would like to be able to focus on one thing at a time and avoid any external stressors where i can. i typically write angst and more negatively-charged emotional pieces (as you all probably know by now lolol) and lately they’ve become just a little harder to produce. i would, as a whole, just like to avoid that general headspace during this time haha. regardless, thank you for all the support i have gotten this year, it is hard to wrap my mind around all of the kindness and i just want you all to know that it genuinely means the absolute world to me.

okay anyway sorry about the little feelings dump right off the bat, now for the fun stuff! i published my first (now deleted and buried) teen wolf fic on june 4, 2020 after freshly joining the fandom. over the course of 2020, i wrote 5 fics (then later deleted 4 of them lolol), totaling to about 52,085 words. i also rewrote and replanned my first big piece, which i posted the first two chapters of in december 2020 (i have included the word count of the other 10 chapters in my 2021 wrap up.)

this year gave me so many opportunities to learn and grow, and i feel like this is the best year i have ever had in terms of creative opportunity. this definitely has to do with the fact that i got to meet a handful of other people who have just generally made me better. i also managed to finally hone in on a style that i am proud of and comfortable working with. so, all of that said, i took some time to calculate a few stats for this year and, drumroll please, here’s what we’ve got!!!!

reece’s (sheetghosts) totally legit 2021 ao3 wrap up

this year i managed to:

- write a total of 252,520 words across 21 fics (a very drastic change from 5 fics totaling 52k in 2020 haha!)

- write and delete 15 fics, totaling 73,210 words (which would have put the original count to 325,530 words across 36 fics for the year…may they rest in peace.)

- bookmark 35 fics/series (i have not gotten to read as much as i would have liked this year ):)

- participate in 5 events (sterek big bang // we’ve become trees, hale week // if the moon walks out (the sky will understand), sterek reverse quickie // mark me like a bloodstain and inventing monsters, sterek week // buried like a dog (only posted to tumblr), and sterek secret santa // to be revealed later in the month.)

- write for two fandoms (only one small ficlet for a different fandom…teen wolf has me in a chokehold. but hey, it still counts!)

well, that’s a wrap on 2021!!! thank you to everyone who has supported me. we’ve become trees is almost at 500 kudos which just, like, rocks my world. the responses i’ve received for my works this year have been so unwaveringly kind and supportive. whenever i’m not having a good day, i go through and read my comments. i cannot truly say i’ve ever gotten a nasty one, for which i’m so grateful (also uhhhh knock on wood lolol.) you’re all the best and your engagement/interaction with my content has genuinely made me into a better writer. i have cherished all of your stories where you have shared personal anecdotes with me and how my works have helped you or given you a safe space. it is so surreal and it makes me feel so much bigger than i am. so, thank you all for an absolutely wonderful year and i look forward to what 2022 will bring!! i will see you all on the flipside <3

[smoothshift]

A review no one cares about: 18 months and 20k miles in a boosted BMW via /r/cars

A review no one cares about: 18 months and 20k miles in a boosted BMW

To skip the preamble and get straight to my ownership impressions, please scroll to the break below.

About a year and a half ago, I found myself on the hunt for a new (and my first "serious") vehicle. Now, I'm sure most of us on this sub are in some sort of perpetual state of window shopping for their next set of wheels and I am no different, but this time I was shopping with the intent to purchase. As such, I had doubled my research efforts trying to find the "perfect" car.

Being a younger man, I opted to sacrifice practicality for fun; my previous cars included an incredibly sporty B5.5 VW Passat with a 1.8 liter turbo'd 4-banger. While it wasn't fast per se, it was plenty quick to get me in trouble (it never happened, knock on wood). It also provided me with a platform that was ripe for tuning, and would prove to be my first exposure to car modification. With a mild tune (APR), the car really livened up and sparked something in me; I wanted every car from this point forward to be modified to reach its full potential.

After a number of years, my circumstances changed and I found having a vehicle to be impractical, so I let the Passat go. Fortunately, after only a very brief time spent as a carless shell of a human being, I found myself in a B6 Audi A4. Similar deal, mild tune, slightly lowered, etc. (I still maintain that this body style and interior was timeless, it really held up well over the years). After several more years of happy ownership, I finally landed a proper "adult" job with a paycheck to match. Naturally, my thoughts turned to the Audi which, at this point, had accumulated in excess of 190k miles. So I started to do what I did best: Window shop.

Initially, I wanted to stay in an Audi. I really liked their interiors, and I was familiar with the company as a whole. I started to look at the S4 (B8, with the 3.0 supercharged 6) but quickly found that they held their value well, even at higher mileage. Couple this with the fact that finding a manual was impossible and the fact that early DSG units had issues, I had to scratch the idea.

M-cars and P-cars were out of budget unless I wanted one that had been treated poorly, so I started to broaden my search. I was acutely aware of the fact that Asian makes had a huge aftermarket support, but having been spoiled by the Audi I couldn't overlook the plastic interiors. So I turned to the American manufacturers in the hopes that the cheap power offered by their cars could sway me over. I really liked the new Mustang that had just come out, and the Camaro has looked good to me since I first saw it in the Transformers movie. And yet, there was a problem: having lived near military bases my whole life, I couldn't shake the feeling that these cars were more common than Honda Civics, mostly because they were. You can certainly customize it to your heart's desire, but at the end of the day, you still have the same car as 50 other people in as many miles.

So the hunt was on for something unique, something that very few people had heard of. Ironically enough, I found it in the parking lot of the local Hyundai dealer as I drove by; a flash of blue from the back corner of the used car lot caught my eye, so I turned around and laid eyes on my car. It had a short wheelbase, aggressive camber and a snout that only a mother would love; it was the 135i. From the moment I sat behind the wheel, I was in love. Everything was where it should be, the seats were comfortably bolstered, the steering wheel felt great, and perhaps best of all, there was no stupid in-dash screen. It was a sports car, as simple as it could get.

Taking it for a test drive was a blast. The car had incredible road feel and the steering response and feedback blew my old German tugboat out of the water. And the power...! 3 liters of twin-turbo'd goodness was enough to make me cackle like a fool. It was at this moment I fully understood where the BMW-driver stereotype came from; the car made me feel like anything was possible, I had only to plant my foot and I could feel myself elevate to immortal status. Okay, that's a bit dramatic, but doubling the power of my daily felt incredible.

So I bought it. Mileage on the odometer: 37k. Price out the door: Just shy of $18k. Not bad for a car that retailed at $52k.

So after 20k miles, how have things held up? Simply put, remarkably. For being the hallmark of unreliability, the N54 engine has been absolutely stalwart for me. After owning the car for a bit, that old spark pushed me to mess with things a bit, so I started with an intake and JB4 piggyback tuner. That led itself to downpipes, charge pipe, blow off valve and a backend ECU flash which is how the car sits now. All said and done, I've been running nearly double the factory boost for a year now. Certainly, parts are more expensive that others, but if you shop smart there are deals a-plenty. When I bought the car, I told myself that I would use it as a vehicle to teach myself how to wrench, and I've stayed true to that as much as possible. With the exception of tires, I've done all the work myself in my home garage and have accumulated quite the collection of tools in the process all while keeping expenses down. Coming up on 60k, there are some weak points in the engine, namely the water pump/thermostat. I'm planning on preemptively replacing both shortly. Additionally, the valve train is due for a walnut blasting (one of the curses of direct injection), something that I'll probably have to have done.

For those that argue that BMW ownership is expensive, my classic case is when I redid the valve cover gasket. Just for grins, I got a price quote from the dealership to the tune of $1k. The gasket itself was $50 and required 3 hours of sweat on my end. So, yes, owning a higher mileage BMW can be expensive if you make it that way. Granted, this approach isn't for everyone, and I understand the limitations that different situations place on owners. I'm very fortunate in that I'm able to pursue my passion in my own garage.

This writeup wouldn't be complete without a word to ownership culture, and what I mean by that is how people treat me when they see a young guy in a fast eurocar. There is no denying that I catch a LOT of flak for this. The number of times I've heard something to the extent of "parents must love you" or some other implication that I didn't work my ass off to get the car is astronomically absurd. People see the Roundel and automatically assume that the car is expensive, and to be fair it was when it was new. I've had conversations with friends who dropped nearly $30k for a loaded econobox who still think I paid double that for my car. They simply cannot believe that my car cost less than theirs.

Now, the ultimate thing, do I let it bother me? Mostly no. I'm able to shrug or laugh off most stuff, but there are times it really wears on me. I don't make it a point to be a douche and I don't go out of my way to tell people I drive a Bimmer, but people love to rag on the car even after I've explained exactly what it is that I love about my car. The conclusion I've come to: Dicks will be dicks, and there is nothing I or anyone else can do about it, so I don't let it bother me.

Conversely, those who know what the 1-er is generally get excited when they see my car. In my current city, there are only 3 other 135is that I know of. I can count all of them that I have seen total on two hands, so it really fit the "unique car" bill. The styling isn't for everyone, but it has really grown on me. Plenty of people have asked me what exactly I drive, as they haven't ever heard of the 1-series. Sure, there are some rock chips and scrapes here and there, but she still cleans up really nicely.

Moving forward, my plan is to continue to full bolt-on status and then look at aftermarket turbos. The goal is to have a reliable 500 horsepower daily driver that I can take to the track and tour the country.

I can almost guarantee that nobody cares about the opinions of a stranger on the internet (and I can guarantee less will have read this far), but this is beyond question the best car that I have ever driven and I love sharing my enthusiasm with others. Thanks for reading!

http://ift.tt/2va4etw