#my awesome coping skill

[wizardhugs]

things i like

trying to listen to a single episode of a podcast over and over throughout the night when you aren't sleeping well and keep waking up and every time you wake you make a guess for where to rewind to and ultimately only re-listen to stuff you know before you're asleep again. and then you get to listen to the full episode in the morning.

having a very specific craving for a food that's easy/low-effort to prepare. bonus if it's the morning.

waking up to message[s] from friends asking for help w technology/codestuff

when i'm having a very specific craving for a video game and playing the game actually satisfies the feeling

tetris

when you rb a post hoping a specific mutual will see it and like it and then they do

being in a dream that is enjoyable to be in and follow. they are always very hard to recall/explain though :(

starting a new tv show and actually enjoying it

counting how many episodes total there are in a 3-season tv show.

when the thing you're drawing/writing/making doesn't end up being as Full or Big as you expected, but it found its shape anyway and the result is still satisfying and was fun to create.

putting things back to normal after trying something new that you just don't really like.

reading a book for a long time and actually being engaged with it

ok 2 rb just make your own post instead of adding things

[so-many-ocs]

[visibly shaking & covered in blood] i’m going to go write now

[gorgon-heap]

I Thank You: A Brief Account of Sonic’s No Good Terrible Very Bad Day (and Shadow’s even worse day)

@son1c’s sonic prime au has been jingling around my brain like a loose marble (especially the splinters of shadow), and this ask from @boom-fanfic-a-latta inspired me to actually sit down and write it :D

~~~

The first thing Shadow noticed was the noise.

It was hard not to notice it, honestly. The eerie silence of the Void was disconcerting, but this was something Shadow had never encountered before. This was an oppressive wall of sheer sound that filled the air and slammed into his ears the minute he entered the Boscage.

It knocked the wind out of him, and he sunk to his knees as he tried to regain his composure.

Dimly, he heard Sonic buzzing around him, jabbering about something. Shadow could only grit his teeth in response.

It’s so loud….How does Sonic not hear this?

He clapped a hand over his mouth in a desperate attempt to ground himself, to experience anything other than the oppressive sound. It didn’t work.

“Shadow? You alright?”

Shadow let out a shaky breath, and it took great effort for him to stop his ears from twitching. The last thing he needed was Sonic worrying about him.

“I’m fine. It’s just adjusting to a new Shatterverse.” Shadow forced himself to his feet. “Tell me about this world?”

Sonic didn’t look convinced, but didn’t press the issue. “The Bocage is entirely take over by huge plants. The forest floor is entirely inhospitable to life, and that means that—“

Plants. It couldn’t be.

Could it?

He felt a tear escape and leak down the side of his face. He was vaguely aware that Sonic, who had been staring at him with concern, had tracked that tear’s path with his eyes. But Shadow had bigger things to worry about. He, and probably he alone, could hear the Boscage.

And it was screaming.

~~~

It had been a few days. Some of the worst days of Shadow’s existence. Boscage Maze was a blur. The residents of the Boscage were a blur. The only thing that was clear was, paradoxically, the murmur of the forest. As it turns out, when billions of plants whisper in someone’s mind, it results in a cacophony, and the worst headache Shadow has ever had.

He was beginning to have trouble remembering why he was there, his goal in coming here, and even who he was. He just shuffled behind Sonic as they navigated the jungle.

Today, they were visiting….somewhere. Egg…something? Shadow couldn’t remember, but Tails was leading the way. Or, this Shatterverse’s Tails. His head hurt too much to care.

He was also didn’t care when he met Windthrow. A tiny voice at the back of his mind reminded him that, but for the Deafening Sounds, he would have been astounded.

A larger, stronger, and more feral Sonic. Would wonders ever cease.

Shadow was roused from his thoughts as they arrived at their destination. It was an unassuming structure, with vine tendrils snaking around, but generally well kept. As they walked through the entryway, he absently noted that the design reminded him of the Ark.

They stepped into the entryway, and the doors swung shut, leaving their little group in the quiet hallway.

And it was quiet. It was utterly silent.

He felt his shoulders sag in relief. He didn’t realize how awful the noise was. It didn’t even bother him that there was a slight buzzing from the overhead lights.

“Shadow, everything alright?” Sonic’s voice boomed in his ears. It hurt, and made his ears twitch, but he welcomed it.

Shadow nodded slowly. He still felt a little dazed, but it was a relief to be able to think clearly for the first time in what felt like forever.

~~~

Sonic was worried.

Well, he was worried about a lot of things. This was an extremely bad situation, and he was well aware that that was an understatement. But in particular, Sonic was worried about Shadow. He was acting more reclusive and irritable than usual. Which was saying something.

Whenever they were at the Egg Base, Shadow disappeared, even though Sonic looked everywhere in the building. And when they were outside, he acted distracted and upset. Every time Sonic asked him what was wrong, he would respond (in true Shadow fashion) with a snappish “Nothing”. But his constant ear twitching and eyes darting back and forth belied his distress. So did his muttering under his breath.

Sonic had decided not to continue pestering him. He instead focused all his attention and worry on finding the Shard.

The sooner we find it, the sooner I get Shadow out of here. The sooner I fix my stupid mistake.

Currently, they were in the Egg Base, and surprisingly, Shadow was hanging out with the group. Sonic was grateful to see that he looked relaxed, even if it was only a little bit. The weird dude who looked kind of like Eggman was showing off his latest creation, which was a metal version of Windthrow.

But as Metal Windthrow was powered on, Sonic was distracted by a faint gasp behind him. He turned and saw Shadow standing there completely rigid, chest heaving and eyes darting wildly. His ears wouldn’t stop twitching. He locked eyes with Sonic, before he fled the room.

Sonic got up to follow up, but stopped when he felt a large paw on his shoulder. Windthrow excitedly pointed at his metal counterpart, and threw back his head and howled. Metal Windthrow followed suit, and his rusty howl joined Windthrow’s. Sonic couldn’t help but smile fondly at what was soon to be a fast friendship. His smile fell as he turned and strode out of the room, determined to find Shadow.

~~~

He didn’t see Shadow for days after that, until one day Sonic entered the dining room. Shadow was standing at one of the tables, poring over the map that they had crudely drawn.

“Shadow! There you are! Are you alright? You disappeared! I’ve been looking everywhere for this Shard but haven’t found anything yet. Hey, what do you think—”Sonic’s nervous rambling was cut off by Shadow’s voice, which was uncharacteristically quiet.

“Sonic. Everything is okay. I just needed some to adjust to the Boscage Maze.” At this, Sonic frowned and opened his mouth, and closed it again. He sat down at the table, watching Shadow’s green eyes rake over the map. He looked—well, calm. But at the same time, he didn’t look well adjusted at all. He still had a dazed look, and there were heavy bags under his eyes.

“Are you sure? You can rest today, and we can go look tomorrow!” Shadow gave a small, fond smile, and Sonic felt his concern tie itself into knots in his stomach.

“We are fine, and in fact quite like being outside among the trees. It’s like coming home.” He turned and strode towards the door. “Let us go now and find Thorn Rose. Finding the Shard is our top priority.” Sonic pushed his worries aside. Shadow was right. The Shard was the most important thing.

Over the next couple of days, Shadow took charge of searching the Shard. He would stay out long after Sonic returned to the Egg Base for the night, and would even be gone before he woke up in the morning. He knew that Shadow was the Ultimate Loner, but he couldn’t shake the nagging feeling in the back of his mind. There was something that he couldn’t quite put his finger on, something he was missing. And it had everything to do with the strange way Shadow was acting.

~~~

Sonic burst into the clearing, almost crashing into Shadow in his excitement.

“Shadow, there you are! I have a good lead on the Shard! We can grab it and fit the prism back together! We’re one step closer to going home!” Shadow looked up sharply with a glint in his eyes that made Sonic uneasy. As quick as it had appeared, Shadow’s face had smoothed back into that same calm expression he had had for the past couple of days.

“That’s good to hear, Sonic. But we don’t need to rush things. The Boscage is truly wonderful. I’m glad to have been able to experience it. In fact, we are sorry for our past anger. You see, it wouldn’t have existed if you hadn’t shattered the Paradox Prism. So, how could I be angry? I thank you, Sonic the Hedgehog.”

I thank you.

Sonic’s blood ran cold.

Shadow…

He took a step towards who…or whatever was controlling Shadow. “Who are you! What have you done with Shadow!”

‘Shadow’ just smiled. “We are Shadow. It would be rude to ignore this gift you have sent us. You have granted us a way to communicate with you, and a way to protect the Boscage.”

Sonic’s shoulders slumped, his chin hitting his chest.

Shadow…what have I done to you?

[sprout-senior]

ever so slightly embarrassing pro tip:

eating is literally so much easier when you make imaginary friends who worry about you and encourage you to take care of yourself

[silverislander]

wait my parents might've just had their first good suggestion in terms of careers. hang on. wait a second.

[fastandcarlos]

World’s Best Engineer » Lance Stroll

summary: as a leading engineer at aston martin you’re very friendly with the drivers, however as winter break comes around, you find yourself closer than ever to a certain stroll

˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

liked by fernandoalo_oficial, astonmartinf1 and 29,402 others

ynusername: another busy week in the paddock, but I wouldn’t have it any other way, being an f1 engineer really is the best job in the world 💚🏎️

4,191 comments

username1: thank you for being so inspiring y/n!!

username2: my dream is to be just like you 🥺

astonmartinf1: another great week with the team, thank you for all your hard work 💚

username3: these days I just live my dream through your socials y/n

lance_stroll: I guess I have to give you a bit of credit for p7 this week 🙄

ynusername: @/lance_stroll if your front wing is broken in montreal…it wasn’t me!!

lance_stroll: @/ynusername I appreciate you really ☺️

username4: I just want a friendship like y/n and lance 💕

georgerussell63: so nice to see you again after so long y/n!

landonorris: can you come and work your magic on my car pls??

˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

liked by logansargeant, oscarpiastri and 732,006 others

lance_stroll: another great week with the team in monaco, thank you for all the continued support 🏎️💚🥰

68,111 comments

astonmartinf1: well done lance - we’re very proud of you!

username5: it must feel awesome to have such a great team around you

fernandoalo_oficial: super job lance 💚💚

ynusername: I guess you did alright 🤷🏻‍♀️

lance_stroll: @/ynusername sometimes I wonder why we’re even friends 😂

username6: I can’t cope with these two sometimes

username7: who let these two be part of the same team 🙄

alex_albon: I’ll let you have that overtake this time…next time you’re mine 😉

˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

liked by estebanocon, charles_leclerc and 103,489 others

ynusername: another week with this fool! did I mention that I’ve now added photographer to my list of specialist skills??

29,312 comments

username8: the third photo wtf y/n

username9: poor lance being bullied by his own engineer

logansargeant: pls tell me lance gave you permission to post these!!

ynusername: @/logansargeant as if he’d give me permission to post these 😂

logansargeant: @/ynusername you’re gonna be dead

username10: everyone just waiting for lance to appear in the comment section

landonorris: HOWLING 😂😂😂

lance_stroll: what did I do to you 😭 worst. friend. ever.

ynusername: @/lance_stroll lmao I’m sorry…just wanted to give your fans an insight into paddock life with you 😝

˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

liked by astonmartinf1, ynusername and 628,319 others

lance_stroll: posting these to prove a point that I’m definitely the better friend. did I mention that y/n is the best engineer in the world 💚🤩🏁

72,771 comments

username11: lance making y/n look like a terrible friend 😂

username12: I sense revenge coming at some point

ynusername: no one’s falling for that stroll 😂 we all know what you’re really like

username13: I can’t anymore with these two

username14: poor lance can’t catch a break

danielricciardo: let me just go and find my violin to offer you some sympathy

maxverstappen1: if you don’t want y/n as a friend…I’ll have her 😇

lance_stroll: @/maxverstappen1 TAKE HER! it’s someone else’s time to be bullied by her

˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

liked by pierregasly, yukitsunoda0511 and 103,778 others

ynusername: the end of another season means the end of annoying this muppet for three months…here’s a few snippets of this year to celebrate another great season (and make up for the unflattering photos I posted last time 😂) 💚🏁🏎️🏆

43,772 comments

username15: is anyone really believing that these two are only friends after this?

username16: the hand to the face 😭 lance looks so chill with it too

landonorris: you two look…close 👀

oscarpiastri: @/landonorris time for team papaya to do some investigating during the summer 🤔

username17: can you just come out and tell us you’re secretly dating now pls

lance_stroll: looking forward to three months of peace and quiet away from you

ynusername: @/lance_stroll I finally say something nice and this is your response 🤦🏻‍♀️

lance_stroll: @/ynusername not nice to be bullied hey!?

username18: officially my favourite friendship in the world

username19: @/username18 there’s no friendship here ma’am

˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

liked by alex_albon, landonorris and 832,443 others

lance_stroll: winter break in venice 🏞️

82,910 comments

username20: wait who’s the girl

username21: anyone else thinking what I’m thinking 🤔

username22: that looks suspiciously like someone familiar mr stroll

fernandoalo_oficial: glad to see you guys enjoying yourselves ❤️

ynusername: hope you brought your company plenty of pizza 🫠

lance_stroll: @/ynusername only the best!!

username23: I swear if that’s y/n

username24: pls let it be y/n so all my wishes can come true

username25: something tells me lance wasn’t wanting peace and quiet from y/n after all 🥰🥰

˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

liked by astonmartinf1, carlossainz55 and 139,220 others

ynusername: enjoying the rest at my favourite place in the world…I guess the company I’m with is alright too 🩷☀️🌊

48,390 comments

username26: THATS LANCE STROLL

username27: all my suspicions have officially been confirmed

username28: no one can convince me that that isn’t lance in all of those photos

lance_stroll: you look like you’re enjoying yourself 🥺

ynusername: @/lance_stroll it’s amazing what time away from the paddock (and you ☺️) can do 😝

username29: y/n you’re not convincing anyone…we know everything!

landonorris: @/oscarpiastri what do you think? 🤔 is team papaya suspicious

oscarpiastri: @/landonorris is that…the lance stroll 🤯🤯🤯

username30: not lance and y/n pretending to bully each other when all along they loved each other

username31: they’ve played us all for fools 😭😭

˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

liked by landonorris, oscarpiastri and 901,114 others

lance_stroll: ready for a new season…did I mention that I’ve got the world’s most beautiful engineer as part of my team too 🥰😝

102,381 comments

fernandoalo_oficial: finally!!! I don’t think I could keep quiet for much longer

landonorris: already winning and the season hasn’t even started yet

ynusername: how was all that peace and quiet during the winter? 😂

lance_stroll: hmm turns out I think I prefer having you around after all 💕🤩

username32: my heart can’t take how cute they are

username33: lance still can’t help himself but to mess with y/n

logansargeant: promise me I will not have to see any affection around the paddock all year long

lance_stroll: @/logansargeant I’m not making any promises 🤐

alex_albon: all those times I asked you…all those times you lied 🥺

˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

liked by lance_stroll, maxverstappen1 and 139,402 others

ynusername: here’s an album I like to call ‘photos of my favourite person in the world’ ☺️🩷

53,003 comments

lance_stroll: I’m the luckiest to have you, not just my best friend but the best engineer in the world 🥺

˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

any replies, reposts or likes are always appreciated 💕

 ˗ˏˋ 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 ! ´ˎ˗

[neil-gaiman]

hi dad,

ok i know ur not -really- my dad lmao just let me cope. i lost mine, so you're stuck with that title now. anyway. i just felt like telling you how great things seem to be going for me rn (fuck i hope i don't curse it). i've been a fan for a long ass time, but i got into the GO fandom only last year, and in just a few months i feel like i've gotten so much better, both mental health wise and creatively. i'm a neat little bundle of depression, anxiety, autiADHD, BPD, and cPTSD. isn't that lovely haha. but hey, i'm also a writer. a poet. an artist. and a helluva burned out musician. BUT. ever since i've been hanging out here, i've been writing SO much more, i've been doing fanfics, and so many cool poems, and improving my writing skills so much. i started drawing again after like 2 years of not touching a goddamn pencil, and i just bought some paint and a canvas bc i wanna get back into painting again like i used to when i was younger. and also through reading other GO fics, i've felt inspired to play piano again, which was a great deal to me a few years back. and it's awesome to feel that spark again.

Good Omens has meant a lot to me since i first read it around 2015. but now more than ever because there's a whole community i can share stuff about it with and it feels great. i recently lost a close group of friends, one of my best friends to suicide, and well. my irl dad. and i've been feeling hella lonely for a long time. but i feel like i've been gaining that sense of community again through good omens. and i can't tell you enough how much it means to me. so, idk. i guess i wanted to say thanks for that. and also for being so supportive of trans/queer people. it means the world to me. so. thanks dad. ily

I'm just glad I'm helping.

[mamawasatesttube]

ok i put a longer post abt tim's Emotional State in drafts for when my brain is less melted but re: tim and going to college im just gonna get a lil silly with it. hear me out.

i have this whole vague story in my mind for tim's college days moonlighting as red robin as he tries and figures out what he wants out of life. (it's a while after rr leaves off and all because he's like. Super Depressed for a hot minute and then has to drag himself through actually bothering to get his GED and applying to college, etc., but eventually lucius is like hey. you're great with gadgets, and you clearly love tinkering. i'd hire you for r&d in a heartbeat but you need at the least a bachelor's of engineering. i know you have a lot of the technical skills, but you need a degree. so tim goes ugh fine i'll get a goddamn engineering degree how hard can it possibly be.)

anyways. i think it's a universal experience that if you go to college and you hang with the STEM crowd, you will unfortunately get to know at least one Fucking Guy. it's like brentwood arc; tim does make friends, but there is just this One Fucking Guy he cannot stand and will never stand. this Fucking Guy is in the common room playing his guitar at midnight. he's drunk and yelling and laughing really loud when people have exams coming up. he's convinced everyone adores him. there's also a detective/supernatural plot going on. the subplot is just that tim hates This Fucking Guy.

at some point, there's a story beat where he as red robin has to rescue That Fucking Guy from a real dicey situation, and That Fucking Guy is really shaken and grateful to him, and he's like okay. maybe. maybe we are making progress. but then the next time he encounters This Fucking Guy as tim drake, the guy is just like. "ohhhh hey drake you missed it last night, it was AWESOME!!! i had to save red robin from a KILLER ROBOT. he's pretty cool though i guess. i bet you wish you could be more like him huh??" and tim is just. I Will Not Grind My Teeth About This. I Will Not. his life is a fucking joke. he dismantles the toaster oven in the common room kitchen to cope. it's definitely to cope and not just so that That Fucking Guy won't be able to heat up his pop tarts in the morning.

at another point, This Fucking Guy looks at street mode, lowkey, unremarkable Normal Car-looking redbird and goes, aw, dude, i thought your dad is loaded?? he only got you a generic-ass sedan?? that sucks lol, if you want we can take my car down to the game instead. and tim is just Say One More Fucking Word About My Baby I Dare You I Fucking Dare You One More Fucking Word.

(also i like to toy with the idea of this being a university in metropolis - he's out of gotham, but not too far. keeps him from getting antsy about what if he's needed because he can get right back over there. and in the meantime, he can hang out with kon and kara a lot, and occasionally enable and be enabled by lois lane and her snooping habits. there's another subplot in which tim and lois get up to shenanigans. at least once.)

it's sort of an introspective thing of him trying to come to terms with the way he no longer wants a fully normal life the way he always used to assume he would - he has the option to walk away from the cape now, like he always thought he would one day, but he just can't give it up anymore. he's fallen into the same black hole he watched dick and bruce dive headlong into. it's also about him finding joy in tinkering and working with his hands and getting to spend more time as tim drake first and foremost. and it's about him venting to kon about That Fucking Guy while they have a lil picnic on the green while kon loses his absolute shit laughing. all against the backdrop of a little mystery or something. <3

OH and also, most importantly. zoanne wilkins is there and laughing at him for assuming college would be easy. and kon gets her into wendy the werewolf stalker. My City Now.

[copperbadge]

Having ADHD and Being A Little Punk Rock

So....a huge amount of the discourse on Tumblr around neurodiversity generally is just venting. Which is good, it’s good to vent and Tumblr is a good place for it. And I know that often, when venting, the LAST thing you want to hear is someone trying to offer help or solutions. So generally I keep my mouth shut unless someone is speaking to me specifically. 

But a while back I saw someone asking (rhetorically) about what people with ADHD wish their parents had known, and I had a lot of thoughts about that which I started jotting down. Reading the various ADHD tags, I also see a lot of teens and twentysomethings with ADHD who visibly have no coping mechanisms and no way of creating them. I don’t blame the kids, and it’s not some kind of personal failing on their part; they’re young, and nobody has taught them. But I look at them and I think, A little sideways thinking would help you out so much. Then, recently, I got an ask (thank you for the permission not to respond directly) that was full of feelings about not being able to process or communicate well, and feeling a lot of negative emotions because of it. 

So, maybe it’s time to just throw this out there. I want to offer some advice as Fandom Dad with forty-three years of being neurodiverse and exactly seven months of actually being aware I was neurodiverse. Which for once is actually going to be pretty helpful! Because I looked at the world and I assumed my own neurotypicality and I thought, well, okay, but fuck all that.

Allow me to explain.  

I think this can apply to a number of ways in which people are neurodiverse, but I have ADHD so that’s what I’m really speaking to here. With ADHD, there’s medication, and I strongly urge people to explore that option because medication is awesome when it works. But there’s also a lot out there about how to try harder, or trick yourself into doing something in a very neurotypical way, or use systems that may not work for you. I know; I tried some too, and the sense of failure, the sense of being an ongoing failure, is terrible. So I want to offer an alternative which has helped me a great deal, and may help other people with ADHD, particularly younger people. 

People of any age, but especially young people who have ADHD, should be made aware that it’s okay to suck at things, to struggle, and to fail. Even if you think you should be good at something, even if everyone around you thinks so too, it’s okay to just be garbage at it and to acknowledge that fact. But just saying “well I’m dumb and can’t do this” of course isn’t actually helpful, and harms you a great deal, because you are a living person with feelings and if you’re self-aware enough to notice, you’re also too smart to be calling yourself dumb. Acknowledging that you’re bad at something, and even acknowledging that you’d like to succeed at it, is only part one of figuring life out.

Part two is deciding what to do about it, and more importantly, how. 

I was always told I was smart, but I was told “You’re smart so you should be able to do this”, not “You’re smart, so let’s come up with a way around this.” I don’t think many people are encouraged to explore why they are bad at something, to understand their own brains and thought processes which cause them to struggle.

Decades before I knew I had ADHD, I had to figure out that one of life’s most important skills is not being able to creatively solve problems but to recognize when you have to. Anyone can sit around and come up with three or four ways to solve a problem, but it’s not actually often taught that you should also be aware of when this is needed. Often, when faced with a problem that is difficult to solve, we’re taught that our reaction should be the socially approved “I just need to try harder”. Sometimes that’s true, but usually it’s not.  

More often, when we feel that instinct, especially as people with ADHD, we should say instead, “I’m not going to try harder, that’s bullshit. I’m trying already. I’m going to find another way to solve this problem.” Trying harder doesn’t work, after all, when your own brain is fighting you.

So you stop and think, if there were no rules to the world, how could I do this? You don’t have to work smarter; a lot of my solutions could reasonably be described as “work dumber”. The point is to work differently in a way that helps you specifically. 

Stop trying to remember to take your keys when you leave the house and get a lanyard and hang them on the doorknob; if you lose them a lot, hang the lanyard around your neck when you leave the house. 

Stop pretending you’ll remember to scoop the litterbox every night and set an alarm that tells you to do it. Or don’t, that works for me but might not for you! Maybe you have to put the litterbox somewhere you’ll see it right before bed (I ALSO do this for the days I turn off the alarm and then promptly forget it happened). 

There are phone charging cords in every room of my home so that I never run down my phone battery, something that is mildly inconvenient to have happen but deeply anxiety-inducing to think about for me. And now I never worry.

The point is, don’t ask how you can do better at something, ask how you can make something easier for you.

Even rewiring your brain to ask the question is a learned skill, though. You have to consciously stop when you find something is fighting you and consciously think, how can this be easier for my specific brain? If we assume I am not stupid but am in fact fighting an invisible monster, how do I make the monster visible? 

Life became roughly 60% easier for me when I started thinking this way. Of all the tips for time management and list making and organizing and de-organizing you can try and implement, none of that is necessary if you know how to ask yourself, “How do I do this differently?” and come up with alternatives that suit your brain. 

Especially with neurodivergence, there’s no “one size fits all” when it comes to handling it, neurologically or emotionally. So I think that it’s important to be a little bit punk rock. Not necessarily in the way of defying authority but in the way of defying convention -- the ability to say “fuck you” to the Way Things Are Done and do one’s own thing is very liberating and healthy. You lose a lot of the benefits of creative problem solving if you’re also ashamed of the solutions. So I think the best trick I know of to succeed despite unmedicated ADHD is just to say “fuck you, there must be an easier way to do this.” 

I’m garbage at cleaning my home (I can say that because I’m not only calling myself garbage, I’m using “I’m bad at this” as a stepping stone to solving the problem, and then I no longer feel like garbage and can joke about it with a healthy ego). I vacuum regularly and do the dishes and such but like...I don’t scrub the floors or dust or wash out the bathtub. That’s part of why I do November Cleaning -- so that at least once a year those things, that I never want to do but always think I should do, get done, but only have to be done once and at a specific designated time. So now if the bathroom floor is a bit grimy in the corners I just think, “Ah -- that’s for November” and add it to my November Cleaning list. 

For my friend who struggles with communication, which is something I also used to really struggle with (and still do in some ways), one of my “make stuff easier” techniques for this was simply to...tell people.

“Hey, I tend to talk really fast when I get excited, so please tell me if I need to slow down.” 

“Sorry, I have some hearing issues, I may ask you to repeat something -- it’s fine just to do it slower, I don’t need louder.” 

“I’m upset and struggling, I need a minute.” (or even just “Hey where’s the bathroom?” so you can sit quietly for a moment and gather your thoughts. If you’re too upset to talk, it also helps to type them out, which I often do.) 

If someone tells me something I want to remember, I’ll get out my phone and say “Sorry, I’m still listening, but I want to write that down so I won’t forget it.” I do all my writing-things-down in Google Tasks, then once I’m somewhere quiet and private I review the notes and move stuff that isn’t actually “to do” to another list. Sometimes I’ll tell someone “I’m so sorry, you just said something and I totally missed it, but it’s important to me -- can you repeat it?” 

Most people find that kind of honesty, where you’re open about why you’re maybe talking at cross-purposes, really charming. It indicates that you think they are important, and you’re putting in effort to hear what they’re saying and respond to it thoughtfully.  

I hope this is helpful in finding ways around some basic problems, rather than through them -- that being able to stop and think “This could be easier -- how?” is something that people can internalize and make use of. Going around a mountain rather than through it might look like it’ll take more time and energy, but it beats trying to punch through granite the whole way there. 

[compassionatereminders]

Hi! I wanted to answer the anon who was asking about what ADHD meds do & don’t help with as someone who was late-diagnosed and started meds this year. However, the effect of ADHD meds and even experience of ADHD itself varies heavily from person to person, so do keep that in mind!

DO:

- Actually hearing and retaining what people are saying. I was never able to fully experience a college lecture without panic because of only hearing bits and bobs of the lecture, going in one ear and out the other. I can truly focus and actually respond to what people are saying in a single line of thought without desperately trying to stimulate myself as much as possible to maybe get 1/2 of the detail to stick in my brain.

- Time blindness!! At first starting meds it felt like the day went for 500 years. I felt so much slower and mentally calmer, and I was able to complete “simple” tasks in under 15-20 minutes that could normally take me up to 3 hours due to distractions.

- Memory! Off my meds I have an enormously hard time remembering anything I’m trying to accomplish. I bounce from task to task without ever finishing it. On meds I’m able to think “I need to do laundry” and I just. Do the fucking laundry. It’s magical and I’ve cried more than once thinking about how much I’ve spent my life thinking I’m stupid or lazy for not being able to “just do the thing” like everyone else.

- Shutting down/fearful procrastination— I would be stuck doing nothing for days and days because I would want to do a task so badly but overly think about it and essentially paralyze myself in the decision making/getting started process. When I’m on my meds I can just do the fucking thing! Even if I don’t really feel like it! When before I practically had to have the exact perfect circumstance and could never create them, I can just plop myself somewhere and do the fucking thing. Just like I’ve been told all my life— “Even if you don’t want to, do it anyways” except now I have the actual ability to do that like everyone else. Before it was like everyone else was telling me to turn on a light, but I had no switch.

DON’T:

- Help with hyperfixation. Sometimes I can fixate even worse when I’m on my meds, just because my mind is so single stream that I’m able to do things for even more excessive periods. I burn myself out accidentally a lot quicker if I don’t provide myself with manual distractions to take breaks from daily/academic tasks.

- Immediately fix you. It was hard to start meds because I had to unlearn a lot of habits I had developed to cope with my undiagnosed ADHD— such as constantly moving, stimulating myself, having candy, etc. Just because the day became longer didn’t mean my time management became awesome either. I’m still working on tools that help ADHD with my meds!

- Not really a don’t but more so an unexpected side effect was becoming very intensely angry or upset when the medicine wears off. I struggle with emotional dysfunction already but the anger was so severe and I didn’t know that ADHD meds wearing off can cause that.

- Work 100% all of the time. Some days things like stress, poor sleep, poor diet, etc, can alter the way the same dose of meds works for you. Especially if you are nicotine dependent or a regular caffeine consumer, the way your meds work can change on a day by day basis. Some days I feel like the meds aren’t working at all, but more often than not there’s still a difference between myself being unmedicated and medicated.

- Instantly make you better at studying/task completion. Apparently having ADHD for years made me so extremely avoidant of many things that I just don’t have the skill set to do them well yet. Like studying, for example. I still struggle with extreme perfectionism that impedes me outside of ADHD paralysis.

- I’m gonna say it twice but they DONT FIX YOU ON THEIR OWN. Yes, they make your life fucking way better than before especially if you’re an adult with undiagnosed ADHD, but you have to learn how to use tools and learn skills to support yourself for the medication to help you to the max capability! I will definitely say that being on meds helped overhaul my mindset when I’m off meds and improved my perception of myself, but again, the meds can only get me so far!

I hope this helped anon!!!

Thank you for taking the time to share this! I hope anon sees it 💕

[mercymermaid]

rewatching rise and??????? donnie got done so dirty in the s1 finale

spoilers btw if you haven't seen it

"all of my tech is on standby, and i mean ALL of my tech" is such, such a cool moment, icon the man the myth the legend

we even have the DRILL

and it does buttfuck nothing?????

mikey throws an entire ship at shredder (which was actually the coolest scene ever like GO BBG GO), raph drags shredder so hard and sucker punches him, leo is busy with splinter kicking ass, and donnie's tech does nothing 💀 why give everyone such cool scenes, then give donnie an epic ass shot and have his attack do nothing

and ykw??? maybe it was so there could be a plot of "he's so sad because he didn't contribute to the fight ☹️☹️", which would've been fun to see, i am a slut for angst, but no..?

honestly that could've actually been a point in a later episode because not only did his tech fail, but he got his battle shell destroyed by shredder, AND he was literally bait in the end fight so he got beaten up while his brother did the beating but NOOO mr. self-proclaimed emotionless bad boy can be useless and just cope with it

sigh this is kinda incomprehensible but whatever

like.... i'd be absolutely devastated if i knew that while my brothers were being awesome, i, who was also known for not being very skilled in fighting (ie. basketball, sportsball, lair games, giving up when fighting the crabs bc his techbo was dead) was still known for not being very skilled in fighting after giving it my all

credit where credit is due, he did learn how to control his tech-bo rocket thing, which would've been COOLER if he DIDN’T get FOLDED LATER

maybe he just needed to have his awesomeness toned down because he was very prominent in the season.... but leo (also prominent, more prominent) had a whole sidequest where he was insanely badass

yeah okay this made sense tldr donnie could've been so much cooler in the shredder fight

[fictional-orphan-smackdown]

ROBIN VS. ROBIN, GO!

All propaganda and what each competitor is from under the cut

Dick Grayson (DC Comincs)

So a bunch of Robins are orphans or orphan adjacent but Dick has the strongest case in his birth parents, whom he was raised by, being very very dead. The kind of orphanhood that sticks in the characterization marrow. Plus in some versions he was carted off to the orphanage and everything, starting his "what if I fist-fought my parents' killer myself" arc early until Bruce ultimately decided to pluck him off his warpath and adopt him.

Dick Grayson is truly the orphan of all time not only is he the ward of another famous orphan (batman) but he really was able to surpass his mentor after being orphaned and used that anger towards his parents death to immediately start fighting crime under the Robin Moniker. The other orphans in dc wish they could do it like him. Plus his name is Dick which is objectively funny.

Dressing like a stoplight and kicking people in the face under a bat furry's direction was the MORE reasonable coping strategy than his original plan. Of singlehandedly taking down the entire mafia even though he was a baby.

Think Batman had issues? Well, consider what happens is he raises his mini-me. This guy is waaaayy too tactically driven and ambitious for a thirteen-year-old. And awesome. And the adult version is —- somebody append a photo.

Okay I submitted Bruce Wayne but like I can’t not submit my beloved boy as well! Anyway his parents have the nebulous honor of being so fucking dead, like literally never coming back to life ever. They died in that circus and the only time I can possibly think of them as ‘coming back’ in any way is in Darkest Night, where there were zombies everywhere. So even when they return to the story they’re still fucking dead! Anyway Dick is like super orphaned, I love him but you look at him and you know his parents are dead.

Please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please

Trust me bro

Tim Drake (DC Comics)

An early reader-insert character, Tim had all the traits the average comics fan at the time wanted: money, martial arts skills, cool skateboard tricks, lots of girlfriends, secret knowledge about Batman and Robin. He volunteered to be Robin, because what comics fan wouldn't in his place? Continuing to be relatable, he's now bisexual, depressed, and living in a crappy apartment. Which is also a boat, because comics readers think it would be cool to live in a houseboat.

His biological mother, Janet Drake, was murdered in the carribean. In the same attack his biological father was hospitalized for injuries and in a coma. Janey Drake was buried on Christmas Eve. During the period that Jack Drake (his biological father) was in a coma he was temporarily under the care of Bruce Wayne. When Jack got out of the coma he was confined to a wheelchair while he went through physical therapy. He would meet his future second wife, Dana Winters through the physical therapy. The two would get married later, Tim having a good relationship with Dana. Her mediating between the father and son during some of the misunderstandings. Jack would find out that Tim was Robin, then realize Bruce Wayne was Batman, threaten Bruce with a gun, and order Tim to quit being Robin. Though later, Tim would get approval from his father to be Robin again and the two would start improving their father son relationship. During the event of identity crisis Tim's indenture would be at stake and Captian Boomerrang would break into the Drake's house and murder Jack just as Tim arrived. Tim having heard his last words over Comms. His stepmother Dana Winters would be hospitalized in Bludhaven for the mental trauma this inflicted on her, and would soon find herself a victim when Bludhaven was bombed/nuked. Tim would then be adopted by Bruce. Though in 2008 Bruce would be supposedly killed by an Omega Beam, leaving 17 year old Tim as a three times over orphan. Though Tim didn't believe Bruce to actually be dead, but lost in the timestream and would go on a Brucequest to get him back. On this trip he would lose his spleen, and nearly die multiple times.

Doomed by the narrative to become an orphan. Tim had a good thing going for a while, but after he started getting involved with the Bats, his life went downhill from there. He became Robin on the day of his mother's funeral. (I should note that the racism I mentioned in her cause of death is that the person who kills her is an awful racist caricature, NOT that she's canonically a POC.) From there, he spent a while balancing Batman (mentor) and his biological father (who was rendered comatose in the incident that killed his mother, but woke up not long after). Both the Robins that came before him were orphaned. As one Tumblr user put it: while Tim Drake managed to beat the odds and remain not an orphan, eventually, the writers succumbed to the calls of orphanhood. His father dies after he finds out Tim's identity, and it is because he knows the secret that he is ultimately targeted and dies. In the aftermath, Tim attempts to get revenge by assassinating the culprit, but ultimately is unable to betray his personal values and go through with it. He has one of the more realistic parent-child relationships among the Bats because it is down to earth in spite of the eventual doom. Really, it comes down to this: Robin isn't just Batman's sidekick, he's Batman's child. And that meant it was only a matter of. time before Tim Drake was orphaned

[purplephantomwolf]

Love in Motion

Chapter Three

Synopsis: Lydia gets a wrong number text from Lando Norris.

Note: This is not an accurate portrayal of how the real people in this act. I do not know them personally, so I will not be portraying them accurately.

Warnings for this chapter: None

Previous Chapters: Chapter One, Chapter Two

Next Chapter: Chapter Four

Masterlist

April 5, 2022

6:30 pm

     My phone vibrates, pulling my attention away from the lab report I’m currently working on. I smile as Luke’s name flashes up on the screen. 

Luke: Good morning, Lydia

Me: Good morning, Luke

Luke: Did you sleep well and have a good day? 

Me: I did! Did you sleep well and have a good day as well? What did you do during the day?

Luke: I did too! I spent the day putting some finishing touches on an event for this weekend. Did you watch any more F1 during class today?

Me: No, I was a good student today. But I’ve got a Monza quali on as I work on my lab report. 

Luke: Ahh, that was an exciting weekend for McLaren. 

Me: Shhhh! Don’t say anything! I don’t know the results!

Luke: Sorry! My lips are sealed. 

Me: I know that Max obviously wins the championship, but that’s literally all I know about the season. I’ve managed to not see any of the results. 

Luke: How have you managed that? 

Me: I know literally no one who watches F1, so no one to spoil it for me. 

Luke: Well, now you have a friend to talk to about it. 

Me: I do! You’re going to get a bunch of texts on Saturdays and Sundays about it. 

Luke: That sounds good to me. I won’t be able to respond to them because those are my busy days. 

Me: Sounds good. I’ll try to not overwhelm you with texts then. 

Luke: Alright. Do you want to continue our game of 20 questions? 

Me: Sure, it was your turn to ask a question!

Luke: Okay, going to go deep here. What’s your biggest fear?

Me: Damn, that is deep. But I think it’s not being able to find someone. I fear that I’m going to end up alone, with no friends, no significant other. My turn to go deep. What do you do to cope when things get hard? 

Luke: I go to my family and friends. I talk to them about what’s going on and what I’m struggling with. What’s your favourite thing about yourself, physically and not physically?

Me: Physically, my eyes. Not physically, probably my ability to get along with everyone. What’s your biggest pet peeve about social media?

Luke: The hate that everyone dishes out because they’re behind a screen. It’s awful to see the things people comment on posts of the drivers and their friends, just because they’re behind a screen. 

Me: I’m sure. I personally dislike social media, so I’m not really on it. I’m only on TikTok and Discord. 

Luke: No Instagram? No Twitter? 

Me: Not even Facebook. 

Luke: Damn, I wish I could do that. I have to do it for my job. 

Me: Yeah, it’s nice not having to worry about putting up a facade for my fellow college students to hate on. 

Luke: Yeah, that’s nice. So, photography. Your photos are excellent. How did you get so good?

Me: Well, my grandpa was a photographer for a while. I used to spend a lot of time in his studio, so I kind of picked things up from him. Then I took some classes in high school. I’ve luckily managed to find time each week to take photos in college, so I haven’t lost my skills. 

Luke: That’s awesome. You mentioned that your parents won’t let you do photography. Why don’t you find a job in it and then move out? 

Me: I’ve thought about it. But there’s no jobs that I’ve seen that I would be interested in. 

Luke: That sucks, I’m sorry. 

Me: It’s okay! I’ve been keeping an eye out though. 

Luke: Okay, so what got you interested in Formula 1? 

Me: I saw a TikTok of one of the drivers one time and was like “He’s kinda cute and funny, wonder what he does.” Which led me down a rabbit hole that ended in an obsession with learning everything I can about the sport.

Luke: Interesting. Which driver was it?

Me: It was Charles, but then I was watching some old McLaren content of Carlos and Lando the same day, and Lando became my favorite. 

Luke: So Lando has always been your favourite?

Me: I’d say that yeah. What got you into the F1 world?

Luke: I had a friend that was in karting when I was a kid. He got me interested in the industry, and I thought it would be fun to plan the events for the drivers and fans. 

Me: That’s fun! As much as I’d love to continue this conversation, I should go be a good student and work on my homework. 

Luke: Oh! Sorry for distracting you!

Me: It’s okay! I’ll talk to you once I’m done with my assignment?

Luke: Yeah! Sounds good to me!

Me: Perfect! Talk to you later!

Luke: Bye Lydia!

     I put my phone down and focus back on my assignment. I groan seeing that I still have five questions left. I hunker down and start making my way through the questions. 

************************************************************************

9 pm

Me: I am back. I have completed the god awful homework. 

Luke: That’s a win. So, tell me a little about yourself. 

Me: Well, what do you want to know?

Luke: Anything you want to tell me. 

Me: Well, I’m a 20 year old chemistry college student. My birthday is May 17. My favorite color is purple. I love watching YouTube, specifically Smii7y. I absolutely love music, I’m always listening to it. I like art and creative activities. Tell me a little about yourself now. 

Luke: Well, I’m a 21 year old event manager for McLaren F1 racing team. My birthday is November 13. I love traveling the world and taking photos, too. I love hanging out with my friends and family.

    I yawn as I read Luke’s message. I rub my eyes, trying to stay awake to continue the conversation. 

Me: I am currently fighting sleep so hard. 

Luke: Go to sleep, Lydia. We can talk tomorrow. 

Me: Okay, sounds good. Good night, Luke. Talk to you tomorrow. 

Luke: Good night, Lydia. Talk to you tomorrow.

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

Taglist: @dilemmaontwolegs @copper-boom @ironmaiden1313 @ophcelia

[purplink8]

Ok so

Light after killing his second victim: Manga: “That wasn’t worth the death penalty, what he did” “But what about the second guy..?” “I was actually doing a service killing him..” “This is what I’ve been thinking all along.” “No wait. IT REALLY NEEDS TO BE CLEANED UP. THIS WORLD IS A ROTTEN MESS.”

See, Light had been thinking about inflicting the death penalty upon criminals for a longgg time.. This is why killing came so easy to him, when he found godlike powers to kill criminals at a distance with…

There isn’t much “coping”. Light was literally mentally prepared ahead of time. In the manga.

Light all along thought that the world needed to be “cleaned up”, and that he sees people the world would be better without.

His only concern in the beginning was, could he emotionally actually carry out, what he was fantasising about the same day. ————————— Light (thought): “Well, it’s only natural. They’re human lives. Of course it isn’t easy.”

Light (thought): “Can I take it? …Maybe not.”

Light(thought): “But come on, I can’t quit. So I lose my peace of mind. So I sacrifice people’s lives…”

Light (thought): “The world needs to be cleaned up. Somebody has to do this!!” —————- So you have an analytic, idealistic, statistical, greater good focused teenager, and are you also confused by his, (what you imply to be “sudden”) shift to magically kill criminals from a distance?  Didn’t you get any clues from his eagerness to “test” the notebook on “people who deserve it”. He’s the judge? Yea, Light believes it

I think you're confusing the timeline a little bit and also buying Light's change in thinking (*because* of the first 2 kills) at its face value. I'll explain my reasoning once more by following manga!Light's thought process from before finding the Death Note, after killing 1 person , after killing a grand total of 2 people which prove that it isn't a coincidence and so on. (also linking this awesome post again).

We can't just ignore pre-Kira!Light's thoughts. Let's go~

Light, before finding the notebook, thinks 'This world is a rotten mess...' Observe closely that his thoughts do NOT go to the direction of 'the rotten people aka criminals are better off dead' OR that 'they ought to die' or whatever. He aspires to become the director of the NPA so that he can bring about a societal change.

Still, he knows that he's not that powerful to make a lasting positive change in this world. He has, afterall, seen his father doing his job for long hours with little result. In other words, Light thinks it all is futile as he's more or less powerless to change the state of the world in a way that matters in the long run. In other words, he is deeply unhappy with the current state of the world.

I'm not knowledgeable about Japan's legal system so take what I say with a grain of salt:

I'm not saying that Light is against the death penalty, just that he isn't that concerned with taking the lives of the criminals (since there's no way he, without the killer notebook, an NPA director in the future (no Kira AU), can enforce the death penalty by himself) before he found the Death Note.

He picks up the notebook -> tries it without thinking it'd actually work

He internally chides himself 'Geez, I'm getting too serious about this...' when he's trying out the Note. Light's an overthinker, that is why he went so far in thinking if he were to hypothetically kill a person- it should be a criminal (that's the result you get from an idealistic, sheltered, a bit naive teenager who hasn't quite matured past his black & white thinking, and whose role model is Soichiro who is strictly against evil).

It's not him trying to Actually kill Otoharada. I would like you to remember that Light is very skilled at rationalizing and manipulating his own thoughts. Which is why we get this, right after Light has gotten over the shock of killing Otoharada:

He's started thinking that it must be a coincidence and is preparing himself to test the Note once again to confirm it.

But just as a safety measure, y'know if the 2nd test does turn out to be awry, he has already begun thinking that maybe he was onto something when he killed Otoharada. Afterall, look at the people around you and you start to wonder that 'all you see are people the world would be better off without.'

This is an extension of the world being rotten thinking. He hasn't yet reached the thinking that 'the rotten people should die.' and that's because Light adapts his thinking according to the situation at hand for maintaining his belief that he's Righteous at all costs.

And who knows? Maybe this time, nobody will die which would mean it's a coincidence and Light isn't a murderer at all so why start thinking that they should die. He's in hypothetical realm and thus he uses the word 'would' NOT 'should'.

The thoughts of Light that you mention come later when he's already fucked up (i.e. killed 2 people and confirmed his worst fears that it wasn't a coincidence).

Light is desperate here. He cannot be evil like those murderers he killed. Remember, Light Yagami cannot make mistakes (in his eyes, at least). Which is why he attempts convincing himself that it wasn't a mistake. It was all deliberate actually.

So! The actual timeline of his thoughts goes as follows:-

'This world is a rotten mess.' (prior to finding the Note) -> 'Start looking around you...and all you see are people the world would be better off without.' (after his 1st kill(? or coincidence? from Light's POV)) -> 'This world is a rotten mess. It really needs to be cleaned up.' (after the terrible realization that he's accidentally murdered 2 people- one of which who didn't deserve the death penalty, strictly speaking.)

Notice how he goes from 'the world being rotten as a whole' (opinion) to 'the world being better off without certain people' (thinking hypothetically) to 'certain people should die' (utmost conviction).

See, Light had been thinking about inflicting the death penalty upon criminals for a longgg time.. This is why killing came so easy to him, when he found godlike powers to kill criminals at a distance with… There isn’t much “coping”. Light was literally mentally prepared ahead of time. In the manga. Light all along thought that the world needed to be “cleaned up”, and that he sees people the world would be better without.

I agree with you that Light is certainly not anti-death penalty haha

But no killing doesn't come as naturally as you might think to Light- he loses sleep due to nightmares, loses weight, the guilt being heavy on him. Also to this, I call the defendant himself to the stand (jk jk)

Yotsuba!Light in the privacy of his own mind, thinks: 'What if, hypothetically, I had the power to kill using only a person's face and name...would I use the power to punish criminals? Certainly the world would be better without certain people. But I don't think I would go so far as to become a murderer myself to improve the world.'

If killing was that natural to Light, you'd think he'd admit it to himself (at least) the fact, no?

Going back to the previous point, Light did not think the world needed to be “cleaned up” in the beginning of the story. He just thinks the world is rotten. He makes revision/alterations in his thought process to reach the final state of thinking that certain people ought to die & he needs to clean up the world. These modifications in his thought process are done to hold the belief that he's righteous, whatever it takes.

So you have an analytic, idealistic, statistical, greater good focused teenager, and are you also confused by his, (what you imply to be “sudden”) shift to magically kill criminals from a distance?  Didn’t you get any clues from his eagerness to “test” the notebook on “people who deserve it”. He’s the judge? Yea, Light believes it

It was sudden imo. Imagine all the things you believed in, including that you're a morally good person, are suddenly uprooted from your life just because you tried out a 'prank' and it comes horribly true. He wasn't eager to 'test' the notebook. He was bored + curious and did not think that this harmless prank would lead to anything worthwhile.

I admit that Light initially choosing someone who's okay to kill (namely, Otoharada) is sketchy as hell. But I also believe that he'd have grown past this mentality, that criminals are all evil and deserve to die, had he not found the notebook. He becomes the judge coz otherwise he'd be forced to admit that he made a terrible mistake.

That's all there it is to it. Light did NOT believe the Note would work. And he was wrong -> so he tries to make it better by thinking 'you know what? I was right! This is what I've been thinking all along.' like this is inconsistent with what Light initially thought. Just because Light's convinced himself of this lie, doesn't mean we have to too.

[archandshri]

23rd Feb '24 - [arch] OH RISO my beloved!!!!!! ft. cyberpunk hermitcraft soup group

A cliffhanger!!!! And now I have to wait a month for you to upload the second half?? How will I cope :’’0

For real, it’s so awesome to see your process and the sheer amount of inspiration you take! In particular, I thought ‘Sit on Two Chairs’ and ‘This Was Our Pact’ were particularly yummy. 

I think book covers are really hard. You have to sum up a book’s energy in one image, make it stand out and show just enough so people want more. Exploring the narrative through those full pages is really interesting - though this is something you did for fun, it could be a really useful technique for getting to know a narrative. When I’m designing my comic covers, I always do it last - that way I’ve had practice with the visual style and I’m thoroughly familiar with the themes, so I guess spending a bit of time with the characters and narrative in this way helps for standalone book covers too. Of course, it helps if you have the time for that XD

Okay!! Onto what I've been up to!!! [warning this is a beefy post I'm sorry for your poor reading brain]

The past two weeks have been really enjoyable! I’ve been playing a lot with slow world-building, in sketchbooks, google documents, and voice notes to friends. Letting myself really sit with concepts, think about the characters, let them play in my head with no expectations. With this relaxation and lack of pressure, some beautiful narratives and interactions have been developing. I’m starting to need a name for a world/ the story. I’m not quite ready to give them a full introduction to the internet - I know it doesn’t but it feels like there’s some accountability to *produce something* and this slow development is really important for the quality and my skill building. It’s really hard to take on, but we actually don’t have to make the perfect thing now! In fact, it’s impossible. Pressure on ourselves makes it so hard to make something good if we’re always grasping at the final result.  In the meantime, while those characters develop, I have been working hard on my basic skills. I wrote about characterization last post, but this week I focused on setting and colour. I was inspired (once again) by Hermitcraft. I’ve seen some really incredible illustrations of Minecraft builds in the fandom, and it seems like a great exercise.

Bdouble0's Season 10 Base illustrated by @applestruda [source] and The Red Zone, built and illustrated by Bdouble0 [source]

One of the creators on Hermitcraft, ImpulseSV, created this build in a recent episode. It takes inspiration from the last season of Hermitcraft, where he was part of the ‘soup group’ with two other players, and his current base concept - a cyberpunk city.  I also LOVE his new character design, so I wanted to place him in the scene.

Screenshot from Impulse's video and new impulse design by @maxx-doodles

Here are some initial thumbnails I did, trying to figure out the composition. I wasn’t sure of the vibe yet, so I tried some rough thumbnailing, and drawing on an isometric grid and other perspective techniques. I’m going a bit mad for characters at the mo, so I wanted to place some in the scene. I found the angle of the isometric grid steep to place characters comfortably, so decided against that.

Looking back at it, I love the second! But I believe I was struggling with the perspective. I decided on the last one eventually.

Now, I absolutely adore all of the players in the Soup Group, and I am BIG fan of redesigning their notable characteristics to suit different settings. So yes, I decided to put all of the soup group in the image.

PearlescentMoon (left) from my comic and GeminiTay's Hermitcraft Season 10 design [from this thumbnail] (right)

Here's the sketch of the final image. I really enjoyed coming up with cyberpunk versions of them all. I used the impulse design almost exactly, with a few extra interesting details since he's mostly viewed from the back. For PearlescentMoon (middle) I kept her fringe, dark hair and gave her a glowing moon symbol on her top. For GeminiTay, I kept her long ginger hair, antlers (but glowing!) and took inspiration from her new season 10 design - a dark blue jumpsuit to match her dark blue clothes in her new design, and the braids she is often drawn with. I also gave them edgy new hairstyles. And a robot arm. I don't have lore for that.

As usual, I filled each flat colour-to-be with black and lowered the opacity to play with the values. Then I added colours one at a time, aware might be riso printing it. Originally I stuck to trying to make it printable (making the colours out of ones I could make my layering 2-3 colours at different opacities), but as I went on, I decided to drop that and focus on the quality of the image in a digital format alone. I did keep the grayscale version above with all the separate layers in case I needed that if/when I came to riso printing it. Below are the main two digital colour schemes I tried out.

I settled on the one on the left, with the blue tones - the foreground characters really pop. I put a few details in Gem's hair, colour variations etc, and cropped it for Instagram. I actually much prefer the cropped version - it sits better in a rule of thirds.

Now the moment we've all been waiting for :'')

RISO!!!!!!!!!!!

I returned to Cardiff after a couple of months away and was delighted to spend my first day back at The Printhaus, an awesome shared print studio where I have basically made my home. A few of my awesome friends happened to be there, so I spent the day playing around with this image with their help! (please check them out they're very cool - Gavin helped me a lot (we hung out at Thought Bubble, remember? and Rhi gave good crits too!!)

For those who don't know, risograph is basically a shitty photocopier that can only print one colour at a time. However, you can play with gradients and opacities, and layer colours really nicely to combine. I've done a lot of single-colour tonal work with riso but this is my first go really layering.

First, Gavin showed me how to separate the channels in Photoshop, using the flat image uploaded to the 'gram. We copied and pasted these layers in grayscale and added blending modes to each layer to replicate what they might look like when printed.

With blending modes, the digital mockup looked like this!!

This bit goes into technical details for replicating what the print might look like for those who might want it - feel free to skip :)))

I copied and pasted the Cyan, Black and Magenta layers as greyscale (as you can see above)

I made all of the greyscale layers multiply layers since risograph ink is transparent and we wanted to see how it layers. The ink usually comes out a bit lighter than you think, so it's good to bear that in mind. I used a clipping mask over each greyscale layer and a blending mode. WHEN YOU PRINT, PRINT IN GREYSCALE, NOT COLOUR.

Here's how I split the colours from CMYK to the riso colours, their hex codes and the blending mode I used to replicate the colours:

Cyan - Mint [HEX#82D8D5] Screen Magenta - Fluorescent Pink [HEX#FF48B0] Screen Black - Blue [HEX#0078BF] Overlay Yellow - scrapped for colour scheme purposes

Blue, Mint and Florencent Pink layers in greyscale in Procreate.

Riso printed Mint and Florescent Pink layers on separate paper, followed by the two layered together.

We always start with the lighter colour inks first, because sometimes the rollers can pick up the ink and cause extra marks where you don't want them. The first two colours came out great!

The first time we printed the blue, it came out very dark (left, first image). I have had this issue before - my last book, Winter Wellbeing, came out much darker than I wanted. Now I realise that the blue ink is super sensitive. All the 'white space' that is covered by a low-opacity blue on the left is only 2%, and yet it has come out pretty strong. We tried printing it on one of the misaligned images just to see, but it took all of the brightness out of the neon soup sign at the top of the image (second image). So I changed the values and pushed them way lighter, so it just pushed the values of the darker bits slightly, and brightened some of the lineart (right, first image)

And this is the final riso printed version!! I'm so so happy with how this came out. It's so different from the original digital version, and I actually love that.

I didn't create new colours in the way that I intended to - I wanted to play with overlaying purposefully to create specific colours eg. orange for the hair etc. But!!! I'm really happy with how it came out. That will have to be a project for next time.

Also, many copies are slightly misaligned, so in future I think I'd do flat layers for the colours a more blobby style with the linework on one layer only so there's less of a chance for obvious misalignment. design for the riso, rather than riso the design.

Overall though, this feels like a super cool step up and a milestone for me. Super happy with how it came out!! And I'm excited to play with colour some more. Can't wait to see the rest of the Lionheart brothers! Enjoy your weekend :)))

Archie 🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺 <3

[ros3ybabe]

Weekly Check In - November 12th, 2023 🎀

ugh I feel like I’ve been neglecting my blogs, and that’s not what I want to be doing!!!

I have finals coming up so soon, including exams and final papers (looking at you, psychology research paper). Not to mention I’m still working 5 days a week, classes 4 days a week, working out 3-5 days a week on top of all my adulting duties. It’s safe to safe I have been a little stressed lately, no doubt about that. It really got me bad because it was impacting my relationship with my boyfriend and the last thing I want to do is cause unnecessary stress and anxiety for him. I know I let my stress and anxieties get the best of me when I realized I was the one causing 98% of all of our arguments and issues this last few weeks. Luckily I was able to come to the realization that it had been my fault, so him and I talked it through and worked it out and I missed him that I would work both on myself more as well as work with my therapist and develop better coping strategies for times of high stress.

🩷 let’s recap this last week with some highlights! And then I will tal about my goals for the upcoming week!

I had to go talk to my PSYC TA about how far I’d fallen behind in the class and she was able to give me some encouragement and a lot of help and really set me on the path in the right direction, so I definitely have hope that I’ll pass this class with a B at worst, which is still an awesome grade!

I finally made it back to my cooking class and the professor was so kind, he told me it always upset his days when I’d miss class for the week and he asked me if was doing okay and how things were going. I think he’s in his 50s or 60s, and he’s just a very kind man, reminds me of my own dad. Has that typical old man dad humor and his cooking class has actually help me become more comfortable with my own cooking skills as of this semester. Definitely one of my favorite classes, and my classmates were the best too.

I registered for the next semester and I am sooo looking forward to the course load. Well, for the most part anyways. I have to retake Chemistry 2 as well as the lab but luckily the college offers a supplemental type of course to help with the actual class so that’s gonna be awesome. I’m also taking a sports medicine focused medical terminology course online, another once a week food focused course about food production, a psychology of emotion course (super super excited for this class), and I registered for a yoga class for the semester! I feel like having yoga twice a week will definitely help with stress and relaxation and just overall keep me on the right track health wise for the semester! I think I’m taking a total of almost 18 credit hours but other yoga class itself is 2 credits so it’s definitely gonna be an easier semester at least schedule and course load wise.

My work bestie had her baby shower! I can’t believe she’s 8 months pregnant with a little boy, he’s already so lucky to have her and her man as parents. She was absolutely glowing at her baby shower and I’m so happy that I got to go and support her. I’ve known her for going on three years already so it made my day to both be invited and get to see how excited she got when I went.

I bought matcha powder! (Amongst other health stuff, including some new gym gear for my lower body days) I have a mini traditional matcha set so I thought I’d finally use it no bought some matcha powder online! I’m super excited to try my hand at making myself matcha lattes. I even bought a milk frother so I’m a little excited.

I changed up my fitness goals and routine a bit. I’m still going to the gym 3 days a week for weight lifting, but now two of those are lower body days and the other is an upper body day. I’m also going to continue with my two days of cardio but on those two days I am also going to do some at home mat Pilates to help with my overall fitness, appearance, and health goals. I’ve heard that some lower intensity workouts are pretty good for women with PCOS so I thought incorporating that would be a good idea.

I’m Vitamin D deficient and I had no idea! I used to take vitamin D supplements at my old doctors request when I was a teenager but I stopped when I can rot college because I was no longer being advised to take it nor were my blood levels being check regularly so I figured ehh not a big deal but I recently got lab work done and yep, I am semi severely vitamin d deficient. So now I gotta look into different foods I can incorporate as well as a vitamin d supplement and more time in the sun!

I’ve been keeping up a decent skincare routine with a bunch of new products I bought and can I just say, the Anua Heartleaf Oil Cleanser is an absolute god send. I’m obsessed with Asian/Korean skincare. It’s done so much for my skin, I can’t recommend it enough!

overall, not a bad week this last week. this recap is for only (mainly) November 4th through yesterday, November 11th.

🩷 my upcoming goals and things for this week! (November 12th thru 18th)

Keep up with all my homework and turning assignments in completed and on time. I’m trying to finish the semester off strong, or at least as strong as I can. That just means it’s grind time and I gotta buckle down and get my school stuff done.

Insurance. I need to purchase insurance because the state I live in says I make too much to qualify for full coverage insurance which is an issue with the meds I take and the doctors I currently see, as well as my therapist. Adulting, yay!

Complete at least a draft and/or reel for my dietetics mentor by Saturday/next Sunday as the deadline was to have something sent to her by Monday at noon. So my goal is to have some drafts of content for her as soon as possible.

Work out at least three days this week. I’ve been consistent with going every week for the last four weeks but I haven’t been as consistent with how many days within the week that I’ve been going. So that’s definitely a goal of mine.

Look into a Pilates class/studio I can join by the beginning of next semester. I definitely want to take some classes to help with form and proper technique, but I think I want to give myself some time to build more confidence so that way I can give it my all in the future classes I take. Plus, my finances don’t exactly permit me taking Pilates classes at the moment. So my goal is to do some research now and then make a decision by mid January.

My boyfriend and I are hitting a year and a half together this week! Ahh I love him so much, I’m so excited for yet another milestone. Pretty soon we’ll be coming up on two years and I just couldn’t be happier. My man is my best friend, I’m so lucky and grateful that I have him in my life, especially as my partner <3

Attempt to make a matcha latte! My matcha powder comes in this week so I’m gonna try my hand at making my own matcha now!

Keep consistent with my skin care and self care. Also pick up journaling again this week as I think it’ll help me sort out my stressors and anxieties without harming my relationship with my man or my relationship with myself. Self care and working on my own well being benefit me in so many ways, I just need to keep consistent with it.

Restart my Duolingo and Busuu streaks as an attempt to get back into learning the Japanese language! Also begin to pick up Spanish again! Spanish is not too difficult for me to understand as a lot of people I’m around speak the language and I also took classes in high school and some in college. So I think splitting my time between Spanish and Japanese will be good and keep me from being bored and dropping my language studies altogether. I’m going to start with Spanish Duolingo and just go from there with it! once I get more comfortable with the languages I will start making small posts in those languages! Spanish will definitely come easier than Japanese tho, that’s for sure.

that’s all for this upcoming week! It feels like it’s going to be busy but next week is our break for thanksgiving so that’s one week of rest and relaxation and recovery for me. I won’t be spending the holiday with anyone but I don’t mind, it gives me a day to be mindful and grateful and just give me some time to myself that day, and for the whole week. Everyone who knows me in person knows I definitely need the time for myself. I think it’ll be very restorative for sure.

for those of you who follow my side blogs for my fitness, I’ll be posting to it here soon as well! I think I might update you on my current split and routine more in depth then what I mentioned here. And I’m going to drop a review of some of the new skincare products I’ve recently bought and tried as well! I’ll try to do a mid week update this week on this blog too!

til next time, lovelies 🩷🤍