#i have checked my junk folder

[help-im-a-medstudent]

Good things about online interviews: you don't have to arrange travel/accommodation and find places in hospitals that are mazes

Bad things about online interviews: the 'simple' system that you need to register with is not sending you a password and its less than 2 weeks until the interview AND THERES NO HELP BUTTON/CONTACT DETAILS

[arkhamsbat]

How I imagine everyone's face care! Add onto or give your own opinions if you like, no hate is tolerated because opinions are opinions!

Alfred: Always takes care of himself despite his age. Doesn't have a long one but has some stuff for wrinkles and all that.

Bruce: He has the most calculated skincare. Doesn’t spend hours on himself but he somehow found the right skincare that makes him look way younger while not making him look too young. Like say he looks 32 when he is pushing 50 type of thing. It scares the batkids. The worst part is that even when he doesn’t do it for like a week because he is too busy with batman, he STILL looks better than ever (besides the stubble and eye bags)

Dick: Has a normal skincare. He takes care of himself any way he can even if that means asking Bruce or Tim for suggestions. He might be too busy to do it but it’ll take 50 pounds of dirt and 26 liters of oil to give him a pimple because he takes actual care of himself.

Jason: I hc that he definitely has acne. He doesn’t have enough money for one and showers aren’t exactly uncommon but he just doesn’t care enough at this point. My friend suggested that Bruce will try to take care of him anytime he gets the chance because seeing his son in such a state hurts him, especially when he knows he can help. Jason isn’t acne prone by any means but he definitely gets it because he sleeps in beat up places, wears that stinky helmet, and since he doesn’t like asking for help his money is low which means he probably takes his showers in somewhere other than his home.

Tim: Also normal skincare. Despite what people think, Tim doesn’t drink coffee and he is a tea drinker, he goes on frequent runs every morning, gets a good amount of sleep, he does his best to take care of his body. People tend to forget that Tim is not only a vigilante that needs to maintain good health but he also has a public image. He researches hard though, he checks everything, he tries everything, etc. I also like to think he has an anonymous account that spreads correct information about product and if you should or should use them.

Steph+Cass: I think they have similar face care and actually do it with each other. It’s their bonding time to try new things or test out new products, they of course ask Tim because he already has a folder for every product under the sun. Of course they will have their own respected face care but I think Cass isn’t acne prone at all. Steph is a bit more complicated but she only gets the regular blemishes when she doesn’t do it for days or goes into that seasonal depression where you stop caring for a good 3 weeks and eat junk (totally not projecting…)

Duke: Also a normal skincare, will check Tim’s files if he decides to try something new! He hates talking about his skincare and hates doing it in front of people because it’s a good time to think by himself and relax without worrying about anything. Was always one to take care of himself well.

Damian: Doesn’t have one. Even when he gets older, he won’t need one. He has the GOOD GOOD genes. Do I need to say more?

[ghostorchidd]

How about some general dating hc with our boy tamaki? I am OBSESSED with him.

Love fool

a/n -Sorry this took awhile writers block is a bitch😭But I decided I needed to write this because I’m tired of other tumblr writers making him an uwu boy because he has anxiety it’s so icky so I hope the wait was some what worth it😭

(Not proofread)

Okay number one he is definitely not embarrassed of you just hates PDA

The type of guy to have a folder of pictures of you but never show you because he’s embarrassed

Huge music lover (let me know if you want me to make a playlist that it junk he would listen to)

If you play any instrument he is captivated no matter what it is

Definitely is a big overthinker but doesn’t need reassurance 24/7

Checks your Instagram likes for things you might be interested in

Prefers staying in with you then going out with you

You yap he listens situation

Dress to impress warrior I swear to god

Spending more time in your room then his because he finds it more comfortable

Will always watch and listen to music and movie recommendations you give him

Before dating he would tweak out after conversations with you thinking he embarrassed himself people walking past thought he was insane

Snaps his neck in the direction of any mention of your name

a/n-OKAY I LOVED THINKING OF THOSE I HAVE SOME FIC IDEAS FROM THESE ALREADY GONNA BE IN MY ACTIVE ERA I SWEAR TO GOD🤞‼️

[24-7-testing]

The end of the year can be tough for a lot of people. My goal? To make it a little bit brighter. That's why I'm pleased to once again announce the return of...

The Portal Holiday Spirit Initiative!

To help bring a smile to people's faces this year, I will be sending FREE Portal-Themed Holiday Cards to anyone who asks for one! There are a few changes to the cards this year because life has gotten very busy for me and I have less free time than in years past.

This year there will only be one card design, featuring artwork from one of the Portal Fandom's awesome artists! The cards will still be customizable to any Winter Holiday of your choosing, but you'll have to wait for your card to arrive in order to see how (the method takes cues from the Portal game's sense of humor, so it will very much be on-brand).

This year is also special because it is PHSI's 5th Anniversary! I can’t express the amount of thanks everyone who has participated over the years, whether you've reblogged and shared, requested cards, helped with artwork, or helped in other ways. You all deserve my recognition and thanks for volunteering your time, talents, and support! Thanks for helping to make PHSI a special fandom tradition!

If you would like to receive a Portal-Themed Holiday Card:

Visit bit.ly/PHSI-2023 ...

Answer the questions in the forms...

Wait for your card to be sent!

It's that easy! Card Requests are now open, and close on December 20th in order to give me enough time to make and send all the cards before the end of the year. Please submit sooner rather than later so I have time to finish them all!

Also, please don’t be afraid to request a physical card if you don’t live in the US! The card service I've chosen says they ship worldwide and, while it might take a bit longer for you to receive your card depending on what country you live in, the cards will get mailed to whatever address you provide, domestic or foreign. Last year I mailed/emailed a total of 164 cards to Italy, Canada, Germany, England, Poland, The US, The United Kingdom, Brazil, India, and Slovenia!

I’m happy to be a part of the Portal Fandom and hope to bring a smile to others in the Fandom this year! Making and emailing Holiday Cards takes time and effort, and sending physical cards is expensive. While it isn't a requirement to receive a card, I would greatly appreciate if you'd like to give $4 to cover the cost of your card or someone else's. Please visit ko-fi.com/247testing and click the Donate button if you want to help out. 

Also, feel free to DM me with any questions or comments. Thanks!

Answers for common questions and concerns under the cut:

Worried about providing a mailing address, for whatever reason?

PHSI has an eCard option! All you need to provide is a name for me to call you by and an email address to receive your card!

Worried about requesting a card because you don’t live in the US?

PHSI mails to any address provided, whether domestic or foreign! However, please wait patiently for your card, due to the current global rate of shipping.

Worried that you can’t give $4 to cover the cost of your card or someone else’s?

Requesting a card from PHSI has been and will always be FREE! However, giving $4 to the initiative helps me pay for the printing service and postage to mail physical cards (visit ko-fi.com/247testing if you’d like to contribute). I gratefully appreciate any contributions received, even if it’s just a comment saying thanks!

Worried because you don’t know how to support the artist of the card you received?

The artist’s social media is listed on the back of every card featuring their artwork. Look them up, commission them, reblog their art, and support them however you can!

Worried because you haven’t received your card yet?

Double check your email inbox and junk folders. I send everyone an email that either confirms your Holiday Card has shipped or includes your eCard! Physical cards take 1-2 weeks to arrive. If your physical card fails to show up after the first week of January, please reach out to me and I’ll send you a replacement eCard!

Worried because you received your card and don’t know what to do now?

Make a post about it! Include pictures, videos, or anything you’d like, and tag me in the post (@24-7-testing) so I can reblog it! If you don’t want to show your card off, that’s ok too!

[kayleigh-83]

Here's a fun lesson about the importance of making regular backups.

I tried opening my graphics editing program today and got an error that a folder it needs to point to was not where it should be. While I was exploring what happened there, I realized what it was.

Yesterday I noticed that somehow my C drive was almost full. After poking around a bit I realized the Downloads folder had basically never been cleaned out, so there was a lot of junk clogging it up which I knew could be deleted. So I did, and it was so much it said it would be deleted permanently rather than going to Recycle Bin.

Turns out, for some fucking reason, my Documents folder was INSIDE the Downloads folder. It must have accidentally gotten dragged in there at some point, and it was not at all apparent until I checked the file path in properties. So when I was deleting old random crap from the Downloads folder, the Documents folder (including the TS2 game folders, CC etc) went with it.

Luckily, I'd made a backup yesterday right before I deleted everything by accident. So I lost nothing in terms of files or even recent gameplay.

So learn from my obsessive backing up which just saved my butt, and back up your game right now!

[lulublack90]

Prompt 18 Neighbour AU

@wolfstarmicrofic April 18, word count 991

Remus Lupin had one asset, and that was his parent’s house. It was in the middle of the Welsh countryside. It was a mile walk to the little village, and the only thing it had going for it was the barn. It was light and airy and smelled of wood. 

Remus had spent a lot of time and effort converting it into a liveable space. The idea had been to sell it, but no one was interested in living so far away from the major cities. So, under the advice of his estate agent, he rented it out for short holidays. 

So far, it had been quite lucrative. With the money he made from that and his own job, he could afford chocolate whenever he wanted. 

The holiday season was coming, and he already had two weeks booked out. He tended to get a lot of city dwellers looking to get away from it all or families trying to get back to their roots. 

He checked his emails one morning with a fresh cup of tea and a plate of crumpets. HE filtered out the junk and found an inquiry email in his barn folder. He opened it.

A man was looking to hire the barn for the full summer and all of September as well. He was looking at three months of solid booking. It was a shame he couldn’t offer it, having already booked those two weeks. And he refused to let down his other guests. He typed a reply stating as much. He got a reply back almost instantly, asking if there was somewhere he could pitch a small tent. Mr Black said he would gladly still pay full price while his other guests used the barn. Remus couldn’t believe what he was reading. It seemed too good to be true. He sent a couple of pictures of his personal garden. The views weren’t as good, but it would be sheltered from the worst of the wind, and he could use Remus’s garden furniture. Again, the reply was quick. The man agreed and said he hoped he wouldn’t be any bother. 

Remus sent an invoice and got Mr Black to confirm he agreed to the price, and with the confirmation, he booked out the three months. He sat back with a pleased look on his face as he finished his crumpets. He just hoped that Mr Black would be a good neighbour as it was a long time to deal with a terrible guest. 

July arrived, and with it, a sleek black motorbike and an equally sleek owner. Sirius, as he demanded to be called, settled in instantly. He played his music a little loudly, but as it was to Remus’s taste, he decided to enjoy it. 

Remus found he quite enjoyed Sirius’s company, and they spent nearly every night in Remus’s garden drinking beers. Remus had even started making enough dinner for Sirius, though Sirius had told him he didn’t expect it but did appreciate it as he was useless at cooking.

It turned out that Sirius needed a break from his high-pressure job, which was why he’d come to Remus’s. 

“I hate it. It’s been my life since my mother found out she was pregnant with me. They own the company now, but my brother and I run it. He’s so much better at it than I am, and I swear he’d have such an easier time at it if I quit.” Sirius had admitted to him one August afternoon.

“Then why don’t you quit?” Remus asked as though it were an obvious solution. 

“Everything I own is tied up in the company. If I leave, I lose everything.” He shrugged. “My parents made sure it was that way after I went through a rebellious streak in my teenage years.”

“That’s terrible, Sirius. I wish I could help.” And Remus found he meant it. 

“Don’t fret about it. I’ll muddle through.” Sirius beamed at him as he patted Remus’s leg. “Right, enough feeling sorry for myself. I’m off for a walk. Care to join me?” Remus couldn’t think of any reason not to, so he took the proffered hand, and they strolled towards the village. 

Remus showed Sirius some of his favourite childhood haunts just off the beaten track, and they spent a wonderful afternoon in the thick foliage. 

Soon, the first week came around when Sirius would have to sleep in his tent. And, of course, the worst storm to hit Wales in over a hundred years decided to arrive that night. 

The trees were whipping back and forth, creaking and groaning. The fence surrounding Remus’s garden swayed dangerously. Remus refused to let Sirius stay out in this. He flung open the back door and yelled into the downpour. 

“Sirius! Sirius!” A face popped out of the zippered entrance of the tent. “Get in here!” Sirius shook his head. 

“I’m all good. Don’t fret.” 

Lightning cut across the sky, lighting the dark ground with its answering thunder not far behind. 

“Sirius, please! I won’t be able to sleep knowing you’re out here!” 

Suddenly, Sirius was streaking across the lawn and ran straight into Remus’s arms, knocking the lanky man back a few steps. Lighting flashed across the sky again and then another and another. The last bolt hit the cherry blossom tree in Remus’s garden, and a huge branch fell off and crushed the tent Sirius had been in moments before. 

“Yeah, probably a good call that Remus,” He joked. “Shall I put the kettle on?” Remus decided, not that he had much choice, that Sirius would be staying in his spare bedroom for the remainder of the two weeks. Maybe longer if the look Sirius was giving him meant what Remus thought it did. That night, they sat, snuggled up together on Remus’s tiny sofa in front of a roaring fire, sipping mugs of hot chocolate and listening to the storm wailing around them.  

[batgirlzine]

LEGACIES: a Batgirl zine has come to a close. While it technically wrapped up in November, there were severe personal complications before the holidays that resulted in the late conclusion of this project, so I apologize immensely to anyone who might have been waiting on another round of leftovers that I had not already touched base with.

For those of you who I have not already spoken to via email this month: this is Kye's mother, and I am finalizing things on my daughter's behalf as she has not been fit for the responsibility. I apologize wholeheartedly for the delay and unfair communication issues this has resulted in.

All remaining physical leftovers were shipped out at the end of October, and have been safely delivered by mid-November at the latest, as far as tracking and communication with customers indicates.

Digital Bundles were emailed out at the start of November, so if you have not received it, check spam, junk or promotions folders for your goods.

If you have had issues receiving either of the above, do not hesitate to reach out at batgirlszine@gmail.com with questions.

With that, the project is a wrap. It has been a long one, for which we cannot apologize enough, or thank you for your patience and sticking with it, and ultimately supporting this project and its showcase of the Batgirls.

Please remember to give all the writers and artists involved love on the pieces they have posted, and the incredible work they put into this. It would not exist without them, and they worked hard not only through the project itself, but through several months of a difficult wrap-up process wherein they were forcibly left to wait without updates as well. Please send them your kind words on their pieces, as you have done through the project's email or direct messages throughout its run.

Thank you for your time, and for your support.

S.

[theladyofbloodshed]

THE BATTLE FOR ESTAROS 📖

The final book in the series is here... releasing 30th August.

I am always blown away by @sleazy-art and the ability to take my ramblings and create something special. For this book, all six main characters will have POV chapters which meant choosing who got to be on the cover was a tricky task - so they're all there!

The pre-order for the ebook is live (link in bio). If you applied to be an ARC reader, the book will be landing in your emails this weekend. Please check your junk/spam folders as it will have an attachment.

It's always a little bit sad to say goodbye to a series, but I hope you're as excited as I am too! 🎉

[stephensharpe]

A couple of weeks ago, I put out a google form asking you which pins you would like to see go into production, around 48 people contributed to that form and I have emailed everyone, unfortunately Outlook has suspended my email for spam 🙄 so if you did fill out one of those google forms, please be sure to check your spam/junk folders! That said, I'll post the highlights here: Surge, Kit and the Sonadow pin will go into production! (payments pending ofc), I'm going to send out the invoices later on this week, so please look out for them. the quicker they're paid, the faster we can get them into people's hands.

The Sonadow pin is currently undergoing some revision, I wasn't happy with the original's hands (the one pictured above is still kinda funky looking), and I've had to tweak the positioning to get them down to 50mm. Providing this all goes to plan, we should expect a May/June release, at which point we can explore maybe looking at some of those that didn't make it this time around.

[losthavenart]

Game Design and Art business news!

Backer surveys are out for Stone: A Dwarven Saga! Which was sent via Pledgebox, so if you backed it please double check your emails and junk folders for it!

Stone books have been ordered and should arrive early next week, while the 4 bonus prints as part of the stretch goal should arrive tomorrow (I'll take some pictures.)

I also ordered a reprint of Irezumi which will be in full colour this time as Mixam isn't just better quality and the previous printer but cheaper too.

And I've been hyper focusing and blowing through the development of WildSpace. Which is where the images are from. WildSpace in brief is a Sci-Fi adventure TTRPG inspired by pulp sci-fi, space operas and visually from the Star Fox video game franchise.

I'm also adding a couple more prints into my shop and convention rotation. I'll be taking pictures of those too when they arrive.

[obsidiancreates]

Shawn The Human (Seriously Just Take His Blood)

(These are all separate universes- in each one it's just the focus character who's a vamp. Shawn only has so much blood to recklessly offer his friends, if it was all 3 at once he'd be beef jerky. Tell me Shawn's fatal flaw isn't loyalty and a willingness to do Anything for his friends even if it's questionable and weird- you can't. Also I'm severely sleep deprived so I hope this is good but IDK)

Lassiter

"Seriously, Lassie, you can't keep just draining criminals." Shawn leans against the pillar by Lassie's desk and watches him fill out another report about a perp having an 'accident' while escaping custody on the way to the prison. "If you keep hypnotizing the chief, she's going to build up an immunity, and then where will you be?"

"Spencer, I still have no idea what you're on about." He does, and Shawn knows it- he figured out Lassie was turned into a vampire less than a week after it happened.

"Lassie, what I'm trying to say-" he jogs after the detective, "-is that as long as you don't need to kill to drink, I don't see why you're risking your whole career over this."

"Since when do you care about my career?"

"Since the possibility of you leaving, Jules getting a new partner she hates, and me having to work up a whole new dynamic became real."

"What're you even offering, Spencer?"

"Dude, I have blood!"

That makes Lassiter stop in his tracks. He turns to face Shawn, slowly, with no small amount of disgust on his face. "You want me... to drink your blood? ... Is this a fetish?"

"What?! No!" Shawn tsks and looks away. "Man, don't make this weird. It's just one friend, offering his blood to another more undead-y friend. How much will you even need to take, anyway? I've got like, a gallon of it, probably."

"I wouldn't drink your blood if you were the last human in the entire state of California. It's probably half crappy energy drinks and sluggish with Cheeto dust."

"First of all, Doritos dust. Second of all, what's better for you- blood you don't have to hypnotize the entire department to get away with, or blood that's probably exactly like mine but with more crimes in it?"

"Crime isn't in blood."

"How would you know, you've only tasted criminal blood."

"Not doing it, Spencer." He walks away. Shawn chases after him.

"Lassie! I-I'm serious man, if you keep this up you're going to get caught! I want to help you keep this a secret!"

"Then stop shouting about it!"

"LASSIE!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Juliet

"Jules. Are you an undead mistress of the damned, or are you just having a great hair day?"

Jules smiles and rolls her eyes. She figured Shawn would know sooner or later- how couldn't he? He's psychic, the world of the dead who aren't dead are sort of his whole thing.

"How long have you known?"

"Four days- I was making a list of ways to break it to you."

"And you settled on that."

"Well now I feel self-conscious."

"Why're you telling me you know, Shawn?"

"Just, checking in! Seeing how you're doing. If you need blood."

"Shawn." Jules stands up, taking a folder from her desk to the filing cabinets. "I'm not killing anyone."

"I never said you were! And I know you never would. But that can't be easy, still."

"It is, actually."

"H-how?"

"I get Christmas cards from people I arrest, Shawn. It's not hard to convince a few close friends to donate a little blood to me when possible."

"It's not? ... The other day I couldn't even get Gus to give me his half-finished hours-old coke."

"Yes. But that's you, and Gus, and food. So nothing will be reasonable."

"... That's fair. ... But uh, want to add one-one more friend, to that list?"

"That's very sweet of you Shawn, really, but..."

"But?"

"But... your blood seems like it might be a little..."

"Too alluring? Irresistible? Spiced with my incredible magic genes?"

"... Junk-food-y."

"Junk food? Wh- Jules! Between Gus and I, I am not the one who eats things like stick-o-butter-in-a-bun!"

"Please tell me you just made that up."

"I wish I could."

"Shawn, look, I appreciate the thought, but the truth is I'm all set and, well, I'd just rather keep this and my work life separate, as much as possible."

"... Alright. Fine. ... But know that if we're ever out there catching bad guys and you need an emergency snack, my neck is right here."

"Thanks, Shawn. ... Can I get into the file cabinet now?"

"Oh, right."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. Gus

"Dude, seriously." Shawn watches Gus pace the office. "Stop freaking out about it and just bite me. You're going to starve to... well not death, I guess. Undeath? That's already you. Maybe... a coma? But that doesn't seem right either."

"I am not drinking your blood, Shawn. What if that turns you into a vampire too?!"

"Then we'll literally be best friends forever! That's just a win-win, Gus!"

"Well- well what if I can't stop and I kill you?!"

"Then you still just turn me, still a win-win."

"Shawn, this is serious!"

"So am I! Look, we both know there's no way in hell you're going out hunting and stalking and all that stuff, and we both know you're not willing to steal from a blood bank-"

"Those bags were donated for medical purposes, Shawn! There's already a major shortage, I will not be apart of making that worse!"

"Exactly! And you've got one best friend right here, literally sticking his neck out for you."

"No. No way. It's too risky, and too weird!"

"How is this the weirdest thing we've done for each other?"

"Because it's your blood, Shawn. That's supposed to stay inside your body!"

"Well, a lot of it was outside my body after I got shot, and I was fine."

"You told me you passed out a couple times!"

"Okay, I said I fell asleep in the woods once, and got hit in the head after that. Totally different, besides, how much blood loss is actually bad for me anyway?"

"Oh... my gosh."

"Look, Gus, it's either this or something way worse. You're already so freaked out and torn up over this whole thing, I just... don't want to see you pushed to a limit you'll never come back from."

"... Well... I appreciate that, Shawn. ... And I guess I at least know what is and isn't present in your blood."

"Exactly."

"... But biting the neck still feels weird."

"Wrist?"

"Euhhhhh..."

"Well it's not like we can just buy a do-it-yourself-at-home blood drawing kits, Gus. ... Can we?"

"Already looking online."

[letsgethaunted]

ATTN: Tumblr Haunties!

From the Patreon: HAUNTIES!! I just got an e-mail from the 2023 Podcast Awards informing us that THE FINAL ROUND OF VOTING IS NOW HAPPENING!!  You have until September 9th to vote for us on the final slate of nominated podcasts! Please check the e-mail address you used to vote for us originally with and see if you were selected as one of the 20,000 people allowed to vote in the final round. I got an e-mail (I'm attaching a screenshot here of what the e-mail looks like):

and it went to my spam folder at first so definitely check out your trash and junk mail folders if you don't see this e-mail in your inbox. If it's easier for you to search your inbox for a specific recipient, this is the address that sent me my confirmation e-mail: podcast@podcastconnect.com.

If you don't see an e-mail anywhere, please try to login anyway just to see if you can still vote for us! The website to vote is: https://www.podcastawards.com/app/login/ and we are officially finalists for awards in the following categories: People's Choice, Best Female Hosted, Comedy, Entertainment, Storyteller-Drama, and Society-Culture!! Once you cast your votes, don't forget to select "save" at the bottom of your screen. Once you do that, you should be able to see the votes you cast under the drop down menu that says "My Votes" (I'm including a screenshot of that here, too). THANK YOU!! I REALLY HOPE WE WIN SOMETHING THIS YEAR!!

Copy/Paste from the e-mail: During the nomination period for the People's Choice Podcast Awards, you opted in to vote for the final slate of nominees. You are among the selected 20,500+ listeners/podcasters to vote on the final slate of shows. You have until September 9th to vote on the final slate of nominated podcasts. You can check the final slate of nominees on the main page of the PodcastAwards.com website. We need every one of you to please vote. We hate adding substitute voters near the end of the voting window. When you're ready to vote, click the link on the home page, log in, and vote using the same email and password you used during the nomination round. Your vote will be saved after each session by selecting "save" at the bottom of the page. Thank you for being part of the 18th Annual Podcast Awards final voting. The awards committee thanks you for taking the time to participate. Click this link to record your votes.  Or visit the website.

[24-7-testing]

The Third Batch of Cards Have Been Mailed/Emailed!

I sent everyone in the third batch an email today that either confirmed your Holiday Card has shipped or included your eCard, so double check your inbox and junk folders if you didn’t see anything come through. Please wait patiently for the delivery of your physical Holiday Cards; they can take up to 2 weeks to be delivered.

Also, thanks a ton to everyone who has donated to my Ko-fi for this project so far! Your kindness has covered 47% of the postage and materials for everyone’s cards so far this year!

The percentage fell from last week's 49%, so not a huge drop thankfully. This past week saw a high influx of card requests, but there were also a couple larger value donations that helped balance them out (thank you to those people!).

Hopefully people continue to donate so everyone’s postcards can be covered this year, because doing something nice for others is what this initiative is all about! Please visit ko-fi.com/247testing and click the Donate button if you’d like to give $4 to cover the cost/postage of your card or someone else’s.

If you’d like to know more about the Portal Holiday Spirit Initiative or request a Holiday Postcard, check my blog’s tags for #PHSI 2023!

Thanks again everyone!

[shandian-go]

Update: 2024-02-04

January 2024 Arrivals

This round's arrivals are all packed! If you had any orders in this round of arrivals, you should have received a second payment confirmation email or a hold notice email. Please remember to check your junk/spam folders!

If you still haven't heard from me but were expecting something this round, now's the time to email me :) You can check the Status page for a list of everything that arrived this round: https://www.shandiango.ca/status

Membership and In Stock

Since I will be busy reorganizing my packing area and planning for the cafe event this month, membership will reopen at the end of February and the membership period will last until April 30, 2024.

The Early Access sale for this period will be an In Stock sale which include extras and unclaimed items for past group orders (up to January 2024 arrivals). The regular In Stock sale will likely be held at the beginning of March :)

New Listings

I'll be preparing the listings for new pre-orders this week and will aim to have them up by this coming Friday (Feb 9). I'll take a look at any requests too so feel free to submit them here: https://www.shandiango.ca/more/request

Discount Codes

Frequent buyers in the 2023 year should have received an e-mail with a unique discount code that they can apply to pre-orders for the 2024 year. This e-mail may have ended up in your junk/spam folder so just a friendly reminder to double check :)

There's currently no formal process or set criteria for obtaining discount codes but I plan on reviewing joiners' order history every 6 or 12 months and will give out the codes accordingly!

[glowyjellyfish]

Currently working to set up my Ubermega Test of Time. It helps that I already had an Ancient/Classical downloads folder prepared, but it does NOT help and in fact hurts that I used the method of “shove several old downloads folders together and then delete whatever doesn’t fit the theme”, because that leaves me with WAY too much junk. Especially if I am going to have multiple societies advancing at different rates, potentially getting very far ahead—I need to keep this downloads folder SMALL so I have room to add some stuff from later eras! So that’s been a little project. I cleared a fair amount out, but still have tons more. I’ll probably just bite the bullet and delete all alphabet soup from this downloads folder—most of it is gonna just be medieval anyway! I’ll check with DDO first, and see if it will help me find and eliminate orphans. I will probably need to get rid of a lot of medieval stuff that I once thought maybe might work in the Classical era, too.

Other than that, it’s going well. I gutted Belladonna Cove, Desiderata Valley, Pleasantview, and started Bluewater Village but got a crash so I decided I was done. The rules I came up a while back with involve everyone starting out living on the same lot, for the community aspect, but I quickly decided that won’t work for these premade hoods that start with 20-25 sims. So I consolidated families a bit and combined a few households, but am leaving them mostly in separate camps of the standard 8 sims or less. For the first era, my sims will only be allowed to plant seeds they dig up, and are not allowed to make more seeds from the harvest—they are hunter-gatherers just learning the concept of agriculture—but for each gardening badge the sims of one culture earn, they get one random Sun&Moon crop that can be planted in the next era, and unlocking a number of those is one of the two achievements to advance from a hunter-gatherer band to a horticultural tribe. I also have some plans to assign climates to each subhood and limit crops based on the climate, but I will have to make sure it’s balanced with the unlocking rule.

I’m also planning to play very Maxis-Match, with only Maxis-made supernaturals (well, and a Multi-PT mod so that alien descendants have a little more diversity and a less insane family tree, and keeping hereditary supernaturalism). So in this world, the Summerdreams will just have their elf ears and be normal sims. I MIGHT start the Cordial sisters as witches right off the bat, but I haven’t decided. I also am debating whether to rope the Picasos into Desiderata Valley and make Jessica and Sophia Jocque be sisters. DV really does need a couple more sims.

Currently, my plan is to have all the excess bin sims and college sims be a pool for when I need new sims—a subhood has run out of marriage options, some ROS event I haven’t figured out yet brings in a new family, or a Roman Empire needs some slaves to bring back from random conquest. That is, the bin sims that are not already attached to a particular hood. The Burbs are going in Pleasantview, all the Capps are going in Veronaville, etc., but the Ottomases and the Newsons might be in trouble. I’m also going to try to keep each subhood fairly isolated through Band and Tribe stages, and start outside communication in the Chiefdom stage. (Oh, I am splitting the Ancient aka the Neanderthal era into three mini-eras, Band, Tribe, and Chiefdom, which segues more neatly into the Ancient/Roman era.) I think the ideal scenario is for the society that first developed into the Classical era to conquer the other subhoods, only for barbarian invaders from the last unconquered subhood or, possibly, from the sim pool, to take advantage of the empire’s crumbling decadence to bring it down—but that doesn’t leave a lot of room for a New World to be colonized down in the Renaissance. If I can swing the former, then the remains of the sim pool could be used to create the New World at the beginning of the Renaissance. Maybe I’ll save the college sims for that? Obviously I still have a lot to think through—luckily I have been tinkering with my own ideas for Test of Time variant rules for years, it’s just a matter of figuring out what appeals to me to actually play, and paring down a lot of wild ideas into one system.

This should not take terribly long to set up, since I’m not remodeling any lots. I just need to pare down the downloads folder a bit more, finish gutting each subhood and sticking the sims in lots, give them all Ancient makeovers and traits, set up each lot—really not planning complex builds just yet, they will start with tents and hammocks—and throw together some Hunting Grounds and Water Hole type lots. Easy peasy.

[batgirlzine]

Hello, Batfans!

Mod Kye here.

First and foremost, thank you so much for your patience, and my sincerest apologies for how long this has all taken to wrangle together. I have a handful of long-awaited updates below on previous delays, digital copies today, wrap-up and leftover sales, so please read carefully!

To start, I'd like to issue an apology for the delays this project has suffered over the course of its run and offer a bit of transparency. This year was unexpectedly very hard personally and health-wise, and without going into detail about illness for the sake of sensitivity, took me out of contact on several weeks-long stretches and occasions, leaving my team in the dark without news—and by extension all of you. Such long radio silence and delays are not what you want in a project that deals with people's money, trust and time, and I know it's been frustrating, and for that I'm so sorry. My lack of communication was difficult and monumentally unfair for everyone involved, and I wanted to take a moment to thank Mods Ari and Michi, as well as Kait, for working behind the scenes to keep things running, to update all of you when they could, and for going above and beyond in ways there aren’t words for, when I was unable or unwilling to step up. If any readers are in the zine scene (as regular buyers, or as contributors yourselves) and see them on a project in the future, please check it out, because they’re a force like no other, and will make an amazing experience out of anything they run. They are, quite frankly, the only reason this project was started and finished, and deserve all the support you guys have sent and more for what they went through and accomplished despite the difficulties I caused them, our contributors, and our timeline to you, our customers.

Order Fulfillment

All customer orders were mailed out June 2nd. As I was unable to update BigCartel with tracking at the time, it meant that most of you were not notified. I’m incredibly sorry. I’ve spoken to a handful of folks about their packages this week, but from our internal shipping system, it appears everything was safely delivered. If you have not received your package, or have had any issues with your delivery, please touch base with me at batgirlszine@gmail.com about your order!

Contributor bundles will be going out this weekend, which means it’s time for…

Digital Bundles

An email with a direct link to our wonderful digital bundles will follow this update that just went out in about an hour just to please email spam servers, so please keep your eyes peeled and on your inboxes if you're waiting on that! If you have any issues receiving it, make sure you check spam/junk folders first and then reach out so I can help ensure you receive it!

And Finally, Leftovers!

Last but certainly not least, a final announcement for anyone with a friend or loved one eagerly awaiting getting their hands on the cool book and wicked merch they saw you get recently. Our leftover sales will be opening Wednesday, September 20th! If you know someone who missed out on sales the first time around and would love to support this incredible project, please spread the word—or if you’d like to grab an extra keychain for your collection, we’ll see you then!

A separate post with a full announcement will be made tomorrow to circulate just so it doesn't get lost in the update here.

Thank you so much for reading this far, and for sticking with us and supporting this project.