#rest in pieces to URLs past

[loumandivorce]

@vampirejournalist started iwtv fanfic friday and i'm here to participate totally on time and not an hour before saturday begins with some LOUMAND FIC RECS as demanded by my url. here are some bangers.

Bloodletting, explicit, series

Even though we've had our ups and downs.

[“I love you,” Armand whispers. Louis swallows against a painful throat. “Sure, honey,” he says. “I love you.” Like saying it again will make it stick. “I know,” Louis says. Armand whispers it a third time, and Louis closes his eyes so he won’t have to look at him when he says, “I’m not gonna say it back, honey.”]

this is a series and it's number one on the rec list because it's truly The loumand series of all time there is nothing that gets them better. chances are you've read one or two of these but the entire series is absolutely insane. hot and disgusting and vulnerable and heartbreaking and makes me feel crazy.

A Chill That Follows, explicit

He leans down to kiss Armand, cradling the back of his neck in his hand. He smiles when he feels rather than hears Armand sigh against his lips, pleased—as if he’s receiving a gift. It’s almost absurd, to think that he was threatening to kill him less than half an hour ago. “What’s absurd is that threatening to kill you was what finally got you to put out for him,” a dismissive, familiar voice says behind him. Shit.

armand is fighting for his LIFE. delicious read

Triptych (Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion), teen

The five of them— Louis, Armand, the figures at the crucifixion— sit together, far too much alike, deformed creatures with teeth that shine in the dark. They all come apart in pieces.

[Why they bought the Bacon triptych, and why Armand sold it.]

really interesting character study on the trifecta in relation to armand

The Cord That Goes Winding Out The Door, teen

There had never been a time proper in his life where Louis wasn’t surrounded by others, but this was the first time that he had felt permanently connected; eternally un-alone. Another being tied to him, a constant brushing of shoulders against his being.

birthing imagery as horror 😊

1,001 nights, mature

The last time Louis saw the ocean up close was—1998. An island off of Miami. Flat, breezeless night.

Or: shards of the past seventy-seven years.

loumand failmarriage through the decades.

dirges, explicit

They fell into a holding pattern for a while in the seventies, in the years before Daniel. Perhaps it was not so long as years, but time dilated, as it was, in Armand’s experience, sometimes wont to do, and it stretched into a small eternity, syrupy and neon-lit, of Louis throwing himself onto swords, chasing and chasing, Armand trailing after with the end of the leash.

practically a loumand heritage fic. written pre s2 but managed to predict so many key parts of their dynamic.

Alexandria, explicit

Louis, glitteringly modern as Armand has always found him, is an excellent tourist, throwing himself into the wholehearted pursuit of the city with an almost manic zeal. Thunderingly alive in Paris, thunderingly alive in Alexandria, thunderingly alive for the rest of their lives, wherever they might be.

loumand in egypt! almost feels like a slice of life in a way, reading this makes you feel like this is really how they spent those 77 years together. the perfect undercurrent of tragedy and bitterness and, of course, love.

acts of collision, explicit

Armand misses Louis like a man about town misses his favourite whore. He misses what only one person is horrid enough to do to him. And Daniel wouldn't even suggest it, if he couldn't feel how Louis misses Armand in the exact same way.

this one is sort of cheating because its a loumandiel fic from daniel's pov, but it's so so good. set in a nebulous post s2 future where daniel invites louis to do a bdsm scene with armand because they both miss each other but armand quite literally Doesn't Talk to louis the whole time. rlly fascinating

the crowning evil, explicit

Armand stood, back to the window, unblinking, tension carrying itself in his frame. Liar, Louis thought. All he could think. Centuries old monster playing at being a boy. A boy pretending to be a man. Unworthy in both roles. Something akin to revulsion clawed up his throat, but it couldn't be, not really, he was too burnt to a husk to muster it in its completeness.

“Come here,” Louis said, his voice dropping.

Armand stepped forward, eyes going wide and hopeful and hungry in half a second. “Yes, Maître.”

“You’re still on that?” Louis asked.

this is just self promo im ngl 💗 but i'm confident enough that my own fic is good so. loumand having despair sex before going to meet lestat in paris in 2.08

this ended up being pretty long but loumand writers when they get it right write such beautiful fics 💗 thank you wonderful iwtc writers. happy fanfic friday/saturday!

[i-hear-that-train-coming]

Announcement - November 8, 2024

Not gonna lie, y'all. Seeing all the "it was god's will" posts have me (again) questioning my religious affiliations. Tbh I don't know if I can really affiliate myself with Christianity in any capacity if the loudest majority of Christians don't think I should be allowed to exist happily in my own skin.

Yes, I am aware of the community I am a part of. I am aware that I am part of the progressive Christian community. But in light of recent events, I do not know if I'm entirely copacetic with being part of a religion whose loud majority make the rules, affect the culture by and large (and therefore the churches), and now if Trump gets into office, making the laws of the land.

Yes I'm aware "he's just the next President of the USA and not the whole world," but at the same time the USA has more or less asserted itself as a sort of global giant in its own respect, and therefore the effects of his presidency will be far-reaching for nearly everyone. If you think it won't, just remember, when Germany was deeply entrenched in its Third Reich and fanning the flames of the Holocaust, there were Nazi supporter rallies all over the United States. It wasn't until the attack on Pearl Harbor that the US got involved and decided they single-handedly won the war and the Allies were just really good friends of theirs for the sake of moral support. There were supporters in the UK, too, and there were probably even more supporters in other parts of the world.

And as long as Trump remains the future president, there will be people, governments, organizations, etc who viciously defend and support him. And that includes the Church as a whole, even if your church is accepting and affirming.

It is for these reasons I am considering updating the URL and profile photo for this blog to remove my face-value affiliation with the Catholic church, removing previous religious content (but not discontinuing it entirely, rest assured), and just making this a blog for religious and spiritual exploration until I find something that resonates with me and makes me feel 100% comfortable with all parts of my identity, and additionally does not make me feel like I have to sacrifice bits and pieces of myself to fit in with not just the community as a whole, but to fit into the confines of the doctrine.

I appreciate every single one of you for being here for me, as all of you have brought me immense joy and a sense of community over the past few months. Thank you all so much for being here.

To be clear, this is not a good-bye. This is just a... blog renovation notice, of sorts.

[grapehyasynth]

young royals fic rec, 14/?

i’m (slowly) working my way through the wilmon tag on ao3 and thought that as i go i might shout out some fics i enjoy along the way! i've tagged authors where i knew their tumblr url, but please feel free to tag folks or dm me if you know ones i've missed!

1. Three little words by @piebingo - 5 times Simon wanted to tell Wille he loved him but didn't do it + 1 time he told him

2. the aftermath by @monttagues - 5 times they left and 1 time they didn’t.

3. trying to find the strength to tell you that i want you near by @tooindecisivetopickaurl - It's the morning after, and Simon needs some answers, but he might need to get his hands on Wille again even more.

4. 30 Days Later by @earlgrey-lateatnight - A month into their relationship, Simon sends Wille a photo that has both wonderful and horrible consequences.

5. We Left Footprints When We Passed By by @in-amor-veritas - It has been eight years since the video. Five years since Hillerska. Three years since Wilhelm disappeared from his life as quickly and as intensely as he had returned. Simon has done his best to move on from his past, but old ghosts are the hardest ones to exorcise.

6. A Horse and His Boy by cuter_than_a_guinea_pig - Wilhelm returns to school after Christmas break with his horse. Riding was something he use to love. He stopped because Erik stopped and he had always fallen in-step behind his brother. Now, with his brother gone, and his mother's insistence that his new role as Crown Prince is to be placed above all else, Wilhelm insist on getting back in the saddle, to claw back a piece of himself. His horse is just one small piece though. Can he claw back the rest under the new found scrutiny and stares? Can he earn back Simon's trust? Can he earn back his heart?

[ourflagmeansdeathremix]

How to Post Your Remix - A Step-By-Step Guide

A few people have asked so I've put together a little guide to help everyone out 💜

Step 1) Go to 'Assignments' on AO3.

Step 2) Click 'Fulfill' on your assignment.

Step 3) Add all of your bits and bobs as usual - title, summary, notes, etc.

Step 4) Tick 'This work is a remix, a translation, a podfic, or was inspired by another work'.

Step 5) Copy and paste the AO3 URL of the work you've remixed into the designated box. AO3 will do the rest!

Step 6) OPTIONALLY, you can also gift the work to your assignee by typing their name in this box. We are not making this a requirement and this is completely up to you.

Step 7) Complete the last bits and pieces of the work - i.e. actually uploading it!

You can do all of this any time; AO3 will display all works as 'Mystery Works' until the moderator reveals them. All works will also be anonymous until the second reveal on October 27th!

Please ensure your work remains anonymous until creators are revealed on October 28th. You can respond to comments (because AO3 will hide your name!) but don't sign your name, link to socials in notes, etc. until after creators have been revealed. After the reveals, you can edit your work to include more personalised notes. You're also welcome to change the post date of your work when they go live and again when revealed.

And that's it! You're good to go!

[felixravinstills]

For the Send Me a Character meme, Coriolanus Snow please.

Ask Game Thanks, anon! I'm keeping this mostly to Snow in tbosas, because I really need to re-read the OG trilogy. (also I fell asleep writing this last night for me, and my laptop died and I had to start over, so that's why I had to take a break for a bit from answering these)

My first impression

He is the villain. (no judgment) Read this as "he's just a guy filling his role in the narrative" type comment. I was like nine when I first read THG… I wasn't having the deepest thoughts. I did like him as a character though! But there were no deeper thoughts than "he's a good villain!"

My impression now

He's so interesting! Like I don't talk about him that much but I feel like there's so much to talk about! I really love hearing my mutuals talk about him! There's so much there!

Favorite thing about that character

The way that he is shown to be capable of empathy and has every reason to not accept/support the Capitol, but he does! He does! What a tragedy! You could have put the pieces together and realized that this system is broken and will only ever harm you, and he decides to try and control it instead.

Least favorite thing

I think some people on Discord brought it up recently (el, was it el?), but his plastic surgery being kind of used to accentuate his villainy felt like a bad stereotype.

Favorite line/scene

How awful, Coriolanus thought. To have you be the first person in the world a baby sees. (Ch. 16)

Genuinely, so funny, and the rest of that scene… well, it's my favorite interaction.

Favorite interaction that character has with another

Continuing on from the scene above! Just Volumnia sharing her worldview with him! While she's stitching him up! (He's her creature :) ) She also is sharing this "we are all inherently violent" worldview with him right after he killed Bobbin… she's like offering him an emotional out. An kind of escape from guilt (whether she know it or not). Absolution. It's okay/normal you killed someone, Coriolanus! It's human nature <- according to Volumnia's worldview.

A character that I wish that character would interact with more

Making eye contact with my url and pfp… Felix… Please, Coriolanus. For me. Prove me right. Prove my weird "I'm who you should be" jealousy (on both sides) correct.

Another character from another fandom that reminds me of that character

John Gaius from The Locked Tomb! I've made the comparison before, and I won't get too into it lest I insert more TLT spoilers onto my blog.

A headcanon about that character

He does have a soft spot for the people he grew up with! Especially Clemensia and Festus! I also, however, don't think that it would save them if they become too much of a threat in his eyes, but he'd be more willing to ignore the possibility of them becoming a threat for longer than others.

(i also think that he probably kills a good chunk of his classmates, but not all of them. I think some people died more normal death, maybe a rebel attempt at an attack, maybe other Capitolite's climbing the ladder. I think he kills enough of them that some of the others suspect, and the growing horror of that person who was some sort of friend to you in the past. mwah! that's enough for me!)

A song that reminds of that character

A Mark On You by the Mountain Goats. Guys, you reached the depths of my ability to think up songs. idk if I can articulate why with this one. It's not the style for sure. But the lyrics. There's something there for me.

An unpopular opinion about that character

This isn't really an unpopular opinion, but every time I see one of those posts going around about how you shouldn't thirst over young Snow, I always think "honestly, I'm really shocked that there wasn't this level of thirst for older Snow." But also I like hanging out at the geriatric ward of Panem so maybe I'm biased.

Also again, not really an unpopular opinion where I hang out but maybe out in the world, it is idk. I don't think he's a lady's man or anything like that. I don't think he's like sleeping around even when he gains confidence after becoming financially secure. (but I respect everyone's different interpretations!)

Favorite picture

I mean... of course, it's from one of my favorite scenes!

But also I love Snow laughing at his execution <3

[staghunters]

STAGHUNTERS NEOCITIES WEEE

Figured I should make a new post at this point because the other one is getting too long to keep reblogging. I've been tinkering away at the site and it is shaping up! Here's a lil page by page tour under the cut

you can view the site here!

Splash screen!

It's a little bumper so the css can load without it scrabling the home page. It looks alright, but to add some more text to the image, I have to make a new one in the death screen generator, which is not ideal.

The home page!

I've changed the middle window so it fits in better with the rest. Not very visually exciting there in terms of color, but it is for now the best look imo. Text there is aligned justified, I've condensed it a bit more and added the randomized quote section underneath it instead of it being a seperate window on the side.

To do list needs an update but is still accurate. The team is still there, but on the other side, I have set the blinkies to be a bit larger. The music player has been removed because I couldn't find a way to add songs to it that weren't included on the source site. Snufkin is here now. The webrings will need some more. Retronaut is there, but not functioning as it should. it just forwards you to random sites in the ring instead of where it should be, but I can't find what exactly I'm doing wrong with the code.

Another thing that is not working on neocities itself is the "last updated" part. For some reason it doesn't display there what it does display on my local html. Maybe a bug at neo.

And icons at the top on the nav par! Adds some more flair to the place. The footer has also received a minor update: it now has a sitemap link instead of another back-to-home url.

About!

I'm thinking of moving the small window with the short info to the right, but it is here for now. Links that are web-building related are on the right, also for my own referencing. The essentials lists on the left are hidden on load, but can be revealed by tapping the puttons. The lists are in tree-view and the window shouldn't expand over the cassette image once the construction sign is removed. Speaking of, the cassette has a lil playlist.

I might expand on the info a bit more, but that is for me to ponder. I liked including links to tumblr, the guestbook, and a button in case anyone wants to link my site on theirs.

Writing!

Hasn't really changed much. I've been looking at moving the sidebar info to be in the main section upon load, but idk if that would just make things more complicated. Right now it loads to an empty section there, stuff appears once you click a button. PDF support is only available once I'm a supporter of neocities, which i do wanna do but isn't a priority atm just for getting this part running. The links to ao3 will do just fine for now.

Journal!

The space for my rambling. It can be browsed by entry through the post-it, and all that seems to be functioning alright. Added a kitty and a sticker for decoration. The Stop Making Sense bumper sticker will now load a local video of the performance, but once again I won't be able to add this to the site until I get a supporter thing going. It plays/pauses on click, hehe.

Basement!

Decided to add a page for it. Basic info, schedule, link to the room, my letterboxd, and an overview of past movies. It's a nice spot on the site that is also the most cramped, but I like how it turned out.

BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH

In case any page/url error happens, you can send a movie recommendation to B (their askbox is linked when you open on desktop)

UNDER HEAVY CONSTRUCTION

The art and other pages are very much works in progress. Art can be up and running once I upload art to the site, but I'm not sure if I want to post full pieces here. Maybe I'll make it a space for sketch stuff that I'd otherwise discard.

As for the other page: I might be filing it under the writing page as a section, since the only thing here is WvW atm. It's cool that it has it's own thing, but I'm not sure if something that is basically a fanfic warrants such a space. That, or I keep it and drop all my other-media stuff in here so there's more to look at.

That's it for now! I got some ideas on how to continue, but they're not super-duper set in stone.

[freewayshark]

Fuck It Friday

Tagged by @gayhoediaz ✌🏻

Keeping my tradition of giving you a whole chunk of something I wrote and then abandoned lol. Started this way back in October 2021 for Halloween, but very quickly realized that while I actually really love this opening, it is extremely not the tone the rest of the fic would’ve taken—I actually shared a later scene back then, if anyone who’s been following me that long remembers, and it was much lighter in tone. So not wanting to change the beginning and not wanting to change the rest I just kind of. Quit. But I think about it every once in a while, so maybe one day I’ll crack it. But for now, have the opening.

Tagging the usual suspects up here since the rest is under a cut: @rewritetheending @fiona-fififi @comaboybuck @elvensorceress @sibylsleaves @eddiequinns @alyxmastershipper @achillesbuck @clusterbuck @ajunerose @wandiinha retroactively adding @megsvstheworld because I couldn’t remember your new url and tumblr wouldn’t autofill it and then I…forgot to go back and add it rip sorry

Oh, and fyi? This is kind of gory

Buck comes to in the back of the ambulance, lurching up with a hungry gasp.

It’s a good thing, too, because he looks down at his chest just in time to watch the ragged claw marks seal themselves up and fade into pale pink lines, and that probably would’ve been hard to explain at the hospital.

“What the fuck,” Hen breathes.

“Buck,” Eddie gasps, his voice raw like he’d been screaming, and the last several minutes come back to Buck in a blur of pain and motion.

They’d been called to an empty warehouse, the caller not giving much information past “massive blood loss” and “hurry,” so they’d had no idea what they’d be walking into.

Buck’s not sure there were any words that could’ve prepared them.

It was like walking into a horror movie. Buck has seen a lot of blood, and gore, and death in his time as a firefighter, but this…

He could smell blood in the air, so thick the taste was on his tongue. He saw Hen actually cover her mouth like she might be about to gag, something he’d never seen her do.

Worse somehow than the smell and the taste was the sight.

He’d never seen someone in so many pieces. There are so many pieces he’s not even sure if it is just one person. But no matter the number they are far beyond the 118’s help.

It took every ounce of willpower he could muster to not turn tail and run back to the safety of their vehicles.

“Was… Was there an explosion?” Eddie asked hesitantly, eyes searching for any evidence to back that up.

Even Bobby looked shaken as he turned back to them. “Something’s very wrong here, let’s move back to the truck and call in LAPD-“

Whatever he was about to say next was cut short when something massive and grey came out of nowhere and slammed into him, and everything from that moment until he woke up in the ambulance is a confusing blur that he has to be getting wrong.

Because he remembers some sort of… creature. Like a wolf, but so much larger, with teeth and claws that tore at them like sharp knives.

“You stopped breathing,” Eddie says now, almost an accusation, the sound bringing Buck back to the present.

“I’m breathing now,” he assures him, swallowing thickly at the haunted look in his boyfriend’s eyes.

“Uh, guys,” Chim says, and the tone of his voice gets their attention immediately. He’s staring down at his arm, the uniform sleeve shredded to bits.

“Is it worse than we thought?” Hen demands, shifting out of shock at Buck’s rapid recovery and into paramedic mode.

“No,” he says at Hen grabs his arm and starts to assess. “There’s nothing there.”

“What?” Eddie demands.

“That fucking whatever the fuck it was bit me right here on the arm, but it’s gone.”

“That’s not possible,” Hen says, her voice shaky even as she wipes the blood off his arm and reveals unbroken skin.

“And Buck sitting up right when I thought we were about to have to call time of death is, Hen?”

“Time of death…?” Buck mumbles faintly, but other than Eddie’s hand grasping his wrist tightly his words go unnoticed.

“We- we were just wrong, about how severe his wounds were-“

“How’s your leg, Hen?”

Hen stops, her jaw working. “It’s fine.”

“Funny, because I know I saw-“

“Hey,” Eddie snaps, voice quiet, eyes darting towards the cab. “We need to table this. Hen, alert the driver and the hospital that it was a false alarm, Chim, get Bobby on the radio so he knows Buck’s ok.”

Buck feels like he’s tuning in and out. The image of that creature is seared into his brain, the fact that it bit Chim, maybe Hen too, the way they’ve all healed.

It can’t be possible.

But he knows the creature he saw was a wolf. Much bigger than any he’s ever seen before, but a wolf nonetheless.

“Werewolf,” he breathes, eyes wide.

Eddie releases his hold on Buck’s wrist in favor of his hand. “Hey, you’re ok,” he says, and only then does Buck realize he was on the verge of hyperventilating.

“How bad was I hurt?” He asks quietly.

Eddie looks away. “Buck…”

“Eddie, please, I need to know. How bad was it?”

A war plays out in a matter of seconds on Eddie’s face, and then it looks like he has to steel himself. “You were… eviscerated. It was…” he trails off, shaking his head. “Suffice to say it’s a miracle we even got you in the ambulance alive.”

Buck doesn’t know what to do with that. He’s faced death before, but that… He brushes it aside because he has to. “And you? You’re ok?”

Eddie huffs a bitter laugh. “Yeah, I just have some scratches on my back. Somebody had to play hero and put himself in front of me even though that thing had already knocked him on his ass,” he says, a bit of an edge in his voice.

Buck doesn’t remember doing it but he doesn’t have to to know it’s true. “And Bobby?”

“Bit banged up. You’re the only one that was seriously hurt.”

“What happened to it? The were- the creature?” He can’t bring himself to say werewolf again. It makes him sound crazy, even if that’s all this night has turned out to be.

“Ran off. I cracked its skull with my Haligan so I don’t know if it got far.” Eddie looks at the shredded remnants of Buck’s shirt. “Actually, I guess it’s probably fine.”

Buck shudders to think of that thing still out there, after the sight they found and what it did to him.

“Buck, talk to Cap, tell him you’re ok.” Chimney interjects, sounding frustrated.

Buck takes the offered radio. “Hey Cap, I’m fine,”

“What the hell, Buck? You were… You-“

“I know. But I’m fine now, promise. You’ll see for yourself back at the station.”

“Are you sure you don’t need a hospital?”

“I’m sure. We’ll see you at the station.”

——

The perils of a modern design incorporating glass instead of proper walls is there’s nowhere to go to not be gawked at when everyone is nothing but torn clothes and bloodstains.

“Roof,” Bobby said after taking in the sight of them. His eyes lingered on the scraps of fabric hanging across Buck’s chest, like he hadn’t believed he was ok until he’s seeing it.

Buck gets it. He’s still trying to wrap his head around it.

They file out on the roof, Eddie staying glued to Buck’s side, but it’s not like he minds, he can’t imagine not feeling untethered with all that’s happening right now.

Bobby’s still looking at him like he might vanish.

“I’m fine,” he insists.

“Not that I’m complaining, but how?”

“Cap… Did you get bitten, or scratched?” Chimney ventures.

Bobby’s brow furrows. “I think it scratched me, on the shoulder,” he answers, tugging at a tear in his uniform to look at his skin underneath. “I don’t see anything, must not have broken the skin.”

The rest of them exchange a glance, and Chim takes the lead again. “Then why is there blood on your uniform?”

“It’s probably Buck’s, what is going on?”

“We were all bitten or scratched. But all the wounds have healed,” Buck answers. They’d checked Hen’s leg and Eddie’s back on the way back to the station, all there was were the faintest of marks, almost impossible to see if you didn’t know exactly where to look.

“That’s impossible. We must’ve all just thought we were wounded,” Bobby argues, not sounding convinced of his own words.

“You saw Buck. He was… He stopped breathing, in the ambulance, but then he started healing, rapidly. I saw it with my own eyes,” Hen admits.

“Maybe we were dosed with something. A hallucinogen at the scene.”

[tayloralisonswift]

kathryn idk how I lost your blog I must’ve missed a url change but hello(again? I don’t think we’ve ever really talked). love the new url btw

anyway I’m trying to think about how I can like….contribute more positively to this swiftie community? gonna try intentionally sending friendly asks to blogs I follow idk??

anyway please tell me about out of the woods. or just ur favorite lyric from it at the moment

i did delete and remake my blog semi-recently so maybe that’s it? this is so sweet!!!!! and. phew ok buckle in.

i posted the other day about “baby like we stood a chance” and how the paper airplanes represent something that soars ephemerally, that it’s not just a reference to a necklace. WELL i’ve been thinking about the accident too. i always took it at face value, a very literal story that she remembers, but i think there’s more to it. so the whole bridge is about how there were moments where it ended and they survived. so i’m wondering if “remember when you hit the brakes too soon” is also about a time when they ended it prematurely (im sure everyone else has figured this out by now but let me enjoy it!) and they cried as they ended it, but when the breakup moment ended, they got back together. i haven’t figured out what the hospital / stitches might refer to, it might just be literal, but the rest of the bridge feels deeper than that! and i used to think it was just one moment but the “remember when”/“remember when” suggest these were two separate instances where they were very much not out of the woods. again obvious but i’m just piecing it together for myself

and in general I LOVE THE REMEMBER MOTIF in her work. so out of the woods is amazing for that. the whole song she’s saying “i remember” and then in the bridge she’s asking if they remember too. (reminiscent of all too well!) it’s so interesting, the play between past and present tense. “looking at it now it all seems so simple” is considering the relationship in hindsight, as is asking if they remember, but the chorus is present tense. it muddles the timeline of the song in a really interesting way. like, it’s obvious now what it was back then, but i still don’t know what it is right now.

none of this is groundbreaking it’s just what i’ve been thinking about!!!!!!

[quincyhorst]

Quincy Horst Headcanons (New Year Edition 🐉🇦🇺)

Hello. Happy 2024! 🎇

I still struggle to articulate my thoughts at the moment, but I want to thank everyone for the support during this 2023. 💞 I'm genuinely grateful that even if this blog remains small, there's people out there that want to listen to the silly stories I give these characters. There's so much to share yet, like the Euro B coaches and the Toro Blanco, but I have confidence I will be able to do it soon. Thank you for waiting, and on the meantime, let's talk about something else today.

Back on my main blog @/brucemarlin I remember reblogging a drawing with THE Bruce Marlin for the first post of the year 2023. Why not doing the same for here, too? Given I don't post much about Quincy Horst despite my URL, I guess this is a good way to fix it.

To clarify, this is a summarized outline. So unlike Gareth -which I divided in detailed parts-, this is a bullet point with smaller pieces, but that do explain my overall ideas with Quincy at least until the FFI. This is also a very rushed post, so forgive me for any mistakes.

Quincy was born in Kalgoorlie, the so-called aussie city of gold. However due to issues his family had to move out to Esperance later on.

Overall, the Horst family had been operating a mining company since their arrival to Australia, but lately the business has been struggling with many things, such as past controversies and their main goldmine starting to dry out.

This is where Quincy's profile comes out, he desires as to find a goldmine mainly as economical support (and a quick way to gain fame for himself). Ironically he does get into the geological aspects later on in life.

He is the 5th child in a family of 7, mostly composed of girls. The other boy in the family went already to study at Canberra, so he's absent most of the time. This led for Quincy to interact with his sisters more, obviously with the consequence of him getting mannerisms, atitude and interests that can be seen as """girly""". Not a bad thing at all, but it did gave him a hard time at school; specially from the other boys.

But unlike similar situations, Quincy did the risky thing of actually fighting his own bullies back. It didn’t end up well, and while it helped his parents realize the gravity of the situation, by that point Quincy had gotten tried.

For the rest of his adolesnce, he developed the radical choice of hating anything girly (Be interests or even just the color pink), at the same time trying to find ways to look "cooler" or "macho". Until he grew up from it, this did strain the relationship with most of his sisters; specially those he once used to play with.

But not everything was bad, at least. Around the end of Primary School, turns out Quincy's aunt started to date a man of surname Marlin, who also had a son. The boy named Bruce was quick to befriend Quincy due to their similar age and interests, so at least Quin finally had another boy to rely on. Hell, he does consider Bruce to be more of an older brother figure than his actual bro.

Thanks to him Quincy also got onto soccer, though by getting accidentally hit by one of his show-off shots. The sudden incident at least made Quincy develop interest into becoming a goalkeeper. While researching aboit the sport he soon stumbled upon Jean Baker, the keeper from Sydney whose fame was slowly growing. Finding him badass, Quin started to use him as a role-model on his training. But soon the sentiment grew from "I want to be like him" to "I will be BETTER than him C:&lt;"

I guess that's the most essential info for now; there's still quite lots of things to talk about Quincy and his family on detail, but this is a good outline of what I have.

But, here's a little add-on, since we are on the Year of the Dragon: Since their origins, the Horst family has kept for generations the very exclusive belief of the Horst Dragon, a mythical draconic creature that has been protecting them for centuries, even when the family moved from Germany to Australia. Even to this day Mr. Horst is a firm believer of this creature, and he was succesful to pass this enthusiasm on his son. Quincy is the most passionate child about the Horst Dragon, even more than his other -skeptical- siblings. He even claims at times that the Horst Dragon helps him to guard the goal. Huh.

[gumpistol]

// What was the first muse that you’ve written?

Do you have developed dynamics with the OC of another mun that has influenced your OC or Canon muse? (Tell us more about the mysterious Boog!)

In what fandom did you start?

Do you tend to focus on shipping or do you not care at all?

What are the trends when it comes to writing that you adore?

Do you still have your first blog / URL?

What’s something you wish to improve?

p.s. ♡ feel free to skip anything if this is too many questions / you don't wanna answer one / you already answered it!

𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐔𝐍 / @ferromagnetiic

what was the first muse that you’ve written?

on tumblr, the first muse i ever wrote (and probably wrote horribly because what was writing) was good ol' peepo parker aka spider-man from m.arvel comics. he will forever be one of my faves!

do you have developed dynamics with the OC of another mun that has influenced your OC or Canon muse? (Tell us more about the mysterious Boog!)

*rubbing my hands together* oh boy oh boy, you just made my day by asking about my OC!! (who is still very much a WIP, but i'm getting there!) anyway, i apologize if this part gets long.

edit: it got long so i'm sticking it under a read more

'boog' aka bykovsky beauregard aka 'the sleepwalker' is my jaded af ex-marine turned reluctant pirate captain one piece OC! they hail from a small island in the north blue, are the captain of the moryana pirates, current user of the sleep-sleep devil fruit (which allows them to put people to sleep for a period of time), and one absent-minded and excessively sleepy leader who falls asleep when tasks are too boring. anyway, that's the lamest summary, but the details i have published on them so far are on my multi, here!

BUT OTHER MUNS AND THEIR INFLUENCE?? the thing i've had the most fun with in terms of boog and their plot is being able to create an entirely OC crew with some other folks~ those on boog's crew include: marina, by bells (@chronocide), who is boog's first mate and she has a lemur named giuseppe that boog hates; cash, by bunny (@horonomi), is the crew's navigator/second mate and a terribly notorious flirt and drunk; weld, by sev (@hweyd), is their part fishman, insomniac shipwright who happened to be aboard the ship that boog, marina, and cash chose to steal. he sticks around because boog's sleep-sleep ability helped him finally get some decent rest; eden, by rabbit (@malpractising), is the crew's blind, undead doctor who joined after patching boog up despite the captain's horror at a blind guy holding a suturing needle; coco, also by bunny, is a mink stowaway who joined the crew; oyabi, by light (@godthread), is the crew's helmsman and another devil fruit user from Wano, and she towers over even boog (7'3") at 13'5"; lastly, bells and i are working on two other OCs for the crew, Pip and Kip, twin brothers, who are a demolitions expert and a sharpshooter respectively, and they are fucking maniacs that boog regrets bringing onto the ship every day.

anyway, thank you for asking about boog! i love them and i get reluctant to talk about them with people outside of the crew plotting circle because they are my first attempt at writing an OC and i am just a tad nervous

in what fandom did you start?

i started out writing in the m.arvel comics fandom, before branching out to various others, then went back, then came here!

do you tend to focus on shipping or do you not care at all?

obviously based on his orientation, romantic shipping is not a priority for luffy. but on my multi and in writing other muses in the past, i do enjoy shipping! it's definitely not the first thing i look for though, and i usually consider it more of a happy byproduct after interactions happening ic or after talking a lot ooc with established friends to the point that we can be like "wait, so i was thinking- were you?" to which i respond "wait, yeah, i was thinking the same thing!" and then the rest is history and you will not get me to shut up about our ship (as you will come to know, i'm sorry but also not sorry. you asked for it)

what are the trends when it comes to writing that you adore?

the answer to this question can be found, here!!

do you still have your first blog / URL?

i actually don't lol, it was a personal blog and i know at one point i was really proud of having a bunch of followers? but then that blog was abandoned and eventually i deactivated it and remade my personal blog, that has also been subsequently abandoned and hardly used

what’s something you wish to improve?

this is a good question, because i feel like there is always something i can improve in my writing, it's just always hard to pinpoint what exactly unless it's while i'm actively writing. i think i'm trying to improve a lot by finding my own style. for the longest time in rp, i really tried to be a writer that i was not, and it made the hobby so unpleasant and difficult. so right now, i'm trying to improve on just writing, putting words down and not immediately worrying about word choice or syntax or how poetic it sounds, but just letting my own style flow.

the other thing i'm trying to improve is my method of getting myself to write. because of my adhd, i can't piece together the scattered fragments of thoughts in my head by looking at a computer screen. i will sit there and stare blankly at the screen for 4 hours if i do. instead i need to physically write my thoughts out on paper before i can even consider writing something that is longer than two sentences. so i'm working to improve my system of keeping my notebooks and notes for all my threads, inbox prompts, and musings, and just overall improve what strategies are most efficient for me.

[kenisle]

i’m so fucking smart

so i’ve been using ios shortcuts to put ao3 fic bookmarks on my home screen like little app icons. and i want them to open into firefox focus, but i don’t want to make that my default browser. so in the shortcuts, before the fic url i have to put a custom thing that tells it to open in firefox focus that looks like this:

firefox-focus://open-url?url= <-(note the equals sign on the end there)

that took me a while to find but i got it and now they all work. hooray.

but when i’m searching for fics, i usually have to apply the same filters every time i check for new ones in a pairing (complete only, >1000 words, etc.). i thought, why not make that a shortcut too?

so i copied the url for my search with all the filters, pasted it where id usually put the fic url after the first part, and figured that would be it, right? wrong. instead of taking me to my custom search, it just went to a general search for new works. not even in the specific fandom or anything, but still an ao3 search. weird.

so i look at what’s displayed as the url up top on that page and realized it’s the start of my filtered search url, but the original has a lot of equals signs in it, and this general search is only what’s before the first one. everything after that is just gone.

the filtered search url looks like this:

https://archiveofourown.org/works?work_search%5Bsort_column%5D=revised_at&include_work_search%5Brelationship_ids%5D%5B%5D=5664162&work_search%5Bother_tag_names%5D=&exclude_work_search%5Bfreeform_ids%5D%5B%5D=1160&exclude_work_search%5Bfreeform_ids%5D%5B%5D=11174&work_search%5Bexcluded_tag_names%5D=&work_search%5Bcrossover%5D=&work_search%5Bcomplete%5D=T&work_search%5Bwords_from%5D=1000&work_search%5Bwords_to%5D=&work_search%5Bdate_from%5D=&work_search%5Bdate_to%5D=&work_search%5Bquery%5D=&work_search%5Blanguage_id%5D=en&commit=Sort+and+Filter&tag_id=Teen+Wolf+(TV)

and what it pulled up was this:

https://archiveofourown.org/works?work_search%5Bsort_column%5D

so my big brain gets going and thinks, “hey, maybe the firefox focus starter thing having an equals sign on the end is making it think the rest of them are separate from the url the first one applies to”

so i take away the first piece (firefox-focus://open-url?url=) and let the shortcut run like that. sure enough, it opens my full custom search in my default browser (regular firefox).

okay, now we know that, because of the first piece, the equals signs are all being treated as dividers of some sort, not as part of the same url. so how do i distinguish the regular equals signs in the search url from the first one that precedes it? i can’t enter any quotes or whatever to set the search url apart, and i definitely want it to open in firefox focus, so i can’t just try to tweak what i entered into the shortcut. what i need is a different url — without equals signs — to take me to the same page.

then it hits me: i can make it a bit.ly

i paste the long url into the box on the bit.ly site, hit “shorten url,” copy the new one, replace it in the shortcut, and boom. my custom search on firefox focus. and it only took me like 20 minutes.

i’m a genius.

[catchingbigfish]

writer q&a tag game

thank you for the tag, @words-after-midnight!! reading your answers after beta reading libaw is wild, i understand so much now lmao

i'm going to leave this as an open tag for anyone who wants to join!!

1. What is your absolute all-time favorite idea you've ever had?

so it goes, for sure.

2. Is there a question you've been asked in the past that really stands out to you and you still think about sometimes?

this is a weird answer, but an undergrad professor asked if a short story i turned in was the first chapter to a novel. it wasn't, and i tried for years to turn it into one, but he was wrong the whole time -- it was definitely not meant to be a novel. i think about that now because it reminds me that sometimes a story is meant to be a story, or a novel is meant to be a novel, and i don't have to try to shoehorn a story into an inappropriate format. (i have to keep re-learning this lesson, btw. i recently tried *again* to make that thing a novel.)

3. What is your favorite part of being a writer? What parts could you take or leave?

i absolutely love the way writing is an exorcism for me. even my found footage inspired short story helped me excavate and get rid of certain feelings, but on its surface it just seems like a fun horror movie treatment. my favorite part of the process is the language -- i love words and i love rearranging them until they sing off the page. i also find it so much easier to communicate in writing and love how it gives me the chance to connect with people.

the most difficult part of writing for me is not getting lost playing around in the story i've created. keeping a plot moving at a steady pace is my biggest difficulty. i still enjoy the challenge, but if i could just ghostwrite for people with better plots, i might consider it! also, what nico said about the state of publishing is why i stopped writing after college for such a long stretch.

4. What is your greatest motivation to write/create?

it's like scratching an itch for me, honestly. i don't know why i need to write, but i've done it since i was a kid, and it's always been there with me.

5. What is the best piece of advice you've ever read or been given as a writer?

my url is a reference to Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch, my favorite filmmaker. he talks about creativity in it, and full disclosure he is *heavily* into the transcendental meditation cult and credits that as his biggest source of creativity, buuuut what it really did for me was remind me that our imaginations are infinite and incredibly powerful at what it does.

6. What do you wish you knew when you were first starting out writing?

along the same theme as my previous answers: i wish i knew my imagination was enough and i don't have to compare my ideas to others', and that i can trust my own intuition about a story. (repeat after me: elle, that story is a short story, not a fucking novel)

7. What is your favorite story you've written TO COMPLETION? Link it if you'd like and can!

answering so it goes feels like cheating because i don't feel like it's actually complete, but my backup answer is a poem.

8. What is your favorite out-of-the-box quote?

i really like this line from the very first draft of so it goes: "She made her way back out to the street where the sun hadn’t risen and nothing had changed at all."

9. Which of your characters would you say has the most controversial mindset? Why do you say so and how do you personally feel about their ideals?

right now, Rosalyn from conversion is my most interesting character because of this. Rosalyn -- and the rest of the primary characters -- use feminist theory to justify what is essentially health fraud and dangerous alternative medicine beliefs. i don't agree with them, but i fully understand how they got to this perspective, which is why i'm so interested in the topic and am writing it in the first place!

10. If you when you first started writing met you now, what would younger you think?

i don't mean to brag, but my younger self would think my current self rocks so fucking hard lol. to be fair, i had a *very* limited idea of what life could be like, so having cleared that bar she set wouldn't be a challenge to most people! the fact that i still write would be enough for them to fawn over me, i think.

[writing-with-olive]

Although I've rebelled against the idea in the past, the recent decline in tumblr's sense of uniqueness and spirit makes me wonder how much of the "social media is bad for mental health" thing is actually true. Not because of "screens bad" or the "well it wasn't too long ago that we didn't have all this technology stuff" or anything like that, but especially with the removal profile pics of whoever reblogged the thing to put on your dashboard, it feels so lonely. In one fell swoop it went from a bustling city center, full of people just doing their wacky little thing, sharing and enjoying what their passions were to... echos. Profile pictures were people's faces, you could notice patterns in what people were enjoying, start to get a sense for other people's personalities as you moved on past. Take that away and people's urls at the top become less an expression of self and more like a claim of ownership. "This is here because x person put it here. you're welcome."

The world, what with it's hellbent drive towards capitalistic ideals and ruthless efficiency seems to have forgotten that one of the core traits of all humans, no matter what part of the world they hail from, is story. is community. is collective identities and the ability to share experiences with one another. Finding joy isn't efficient; it's roundabout and it involves taking time and truly experiencing life. But since the people who have the most to gain from an efficient, ruthless, selfish system rather than a joyous one also have the means of convincing the rest of the population that the key to joy is material success rather than real community, the general population buys into that. Community building becomes networking. Stories become content. Editorial after editorial is written, explaining to people how to game The System, whatever that abstracted term actually means, for their own personal advantage.

Social media formed with the purpose of using the internet to communicate. Suddenly, the barrier of space no longer mattered, because you could share your interests with people far far from you who enjoyed the same thing. You could build community. But now, every time a change gets made that removes a piece of uniqueness, it stops feeling like that virtual town square and more and more like a single chair, placed at the end of a conveyor belt, where you sit alone waiting to be served. An unoffensive interface, an algorithm meant to direct stuff to you that it's pretty sure you'll like, makes it too difficult to stand up from that chair and find somewhere else to be. Although we are isolated, we still want the same emotional thrills that came with real interaction, so we gravitate toward anything that is inflammatory or shocking or exciting. It's a substitute, but it works well enough. Not only that, but if we as creatives put out something that goes big, sometimes we do get a sense of validation again. People comment or engage and suddenly, for that brief moment, we feel connected again. So we are taught to push harder and harder to make more so that we can become the center of attention again, to get that rush. It's addicting because like it or not, we, as humans, are dependent on connection. We start to believe that our worth is tied to what we create because it becomes clear that only the people who can really contribute (whatever "really" means) get the attention they need. So, without realizing it, it can be very easy to slip into the mindset that being big, sacrificing our time and wellbeing to the demand of others, means getting that validation, that community. We reach for those editorials about gaming The System.

When we (the general we now, not just creatives) are in an ecosystem where we are served up content based on what we spent more time interacting with, our skills regarding navigating community atrophy. We become so accustomed to being at the center that it can be shocking when we try to look for community, real community not the simulated stuff, and find that we are not the center but rather just one person of many. Negotiating differences in opinion, or even interest, while once deeply stimulating and fulfilling, can become overwhelmingly challenging. This can cause people to lash out in a burst of self-righteousness, demanding the world cater to their sensibilities. Or it can cause people to retreat back to the algorithms that have become comfortable, if unfulfilling. This, coupled with the fact that the more power any given person develops within this system, the more incentive they have to keep it the way it is-- letting go feels like it would be more isolating-- means that we end up in a vicious cycle we all play a part in.

There is a reason solitary confinement is considered inhumane. Humans aren't supposed to be alone. It tends to make us lose our sanity.

Killing modernization is going to take active effort. Find communities where you can distinguish at least a few different people, so that you don't have to rely on haphazard substitutes. Frequent your local library or look up community groups in your area. Branch out into other non-mainstream online spaces. If you have a community you adore on a platform that has decided to go the route of Sleek and Soulless, see if they're interested in also communicating and sharing their creations in another space so that you aren't dependent on a platform that no longer cares for you.

It'll be work, but it's important. Modernization needs to fucking die.

i am actually so fucking sick and tired of the tiktok/twitterification of websites. i am so sick of everything needing to be compressed or squeaky clean or "modernized". i am so fucking sick of every website that had a unique, creative spin or twist, violently throwing any sort of identifiers or creative minds they once had in favor of becoming another twitter. in favor of becoming another tiktok. modernization needs to fucking die.

[nyt-crossword]

NYT Crossword 22 January 2024

Across Hints

Make it snappy! NYT Crossword Clue

Metal for a blacksmith NYT Crossword Clue

Well, shucks! NYT Crossword Clue

Bug bite annoyance NYT Crossword Clue

Put money in the bank NYT Crossword Clue

Emotional states NYT Crossword Clue

What the suffix “-er” may mean NYT Crossword Clue

Entree served in a bowl NYT Crossword Clue

“Rainbow” fish NYT Crossword Clue

*British publishing house founded in 1935 NYT Crossword Clue

Cookie with “Stuf” inside NYT Crossword Clue

Lover boys NYT Crossword Clue

Opposite of “It is I” NYT Crossword Clue

Initialism meaning “Be wary of looking at this in the office” NYT Crossword Clue

Having the means NYT Crossword Clue

Numbered classical pieces NYT Crossword Clue

I gotta decline NYT Crossword Clue

In one’s birthday suit NYT Crossword Clue

Sea: Fr. NYT Crossword Clue

*Certain ice cream or soap product NYT Crossword Clue

Cambridge sch. that sends out acceptance letters on Pi Day NYT Crossword Clue

Singer Paul with the memoir “My Way” NYT Crossword Clue

Produce whoppers NYT Crossword Clue

Soy-based protein source NYT Crossword Clue

Went kaput, as a battery NYT Crossword Clue

Fashion legend Wang NYT Crossword Clue

Hermann who wrote philosophical fiction NYT Crossword Clue

Impede the progress of NYT Crossword Clue

Wander NYT Crossword Clue

Subject of “the talk” about sex … or a hint to the answers to the four starred clues NYT Crossword Clue

Habitat’s flora and fauna NYT Crossword Clue

Apple music player discontinued in 2022 NYT Crossword Clue

Midday rests NYT Crossword Clue

What a score of 70 or less signifies on a common standardized test NYT Crossword Clue

Spill the beans NYT Crossword Clue

Lumberjack’s target NYT Crossword Clue

Prefix with media or cultural NYT Crossword Clue

Spiral down the sink, say NYT Crossword Clue

A single time NYT Crossword Clue

Down Hints

Asset in playing Whac-A-Mole NYT Crossword Clue

I can’t take it any longer! NYT Crossword Clue

Farm measurement NYT Crossword Clue

Minors who look to be headed to the majors NYT Crossword Clue

Magazine installment NYT Crossword Clue

Mete out NYT Crossword Clue

Kitchen fixture NYT Crossword Clue

Inexperienced gamer, informally NYT Crossword Clue

Playground retort NYT Crossword Clue

One who makes his living with his hands NYT Crossword Clue

*Bodily response to something eerie NYT Crossword Clue

End of a school’s URL NYT Crossword Clue

Winter clock setting in N.Y.C. NYT Crossword Clue

Trait of the fabled fisherman’s wife NYT Crossword Clue

Alternatively …??? NYT Crossword Clue

Songs from the ’60s and ’70s, say NYT Crossword Clue

Be quietly furious NYT Crossword Clue

Wanderers NYT Crossword Clue

Order to a birthday girl or boy NYT Crossword Clue

*Thanksgiving football game NYT Crossword Clue

Contemptuous expression NYT Crossword Clue

Mahvelous! NYT Crossword Clue

Figured out, as a mystery NYT Crossword Clue

Compete (for) NYT Crossword Clue

Goal of an intervention, maybe NYT Crossword Clue

Enough denying! NYT Crossword Clue

Token of past times NYT Crossword Clue

Actor Schwarzenegger NYT Crossword Clue

Baghdad citizen NYT Crossword Clue

As ironic as it sounds … NYT Crossword Clue

Place for a construction project NYT Crossword Clue

Mimicked NYT Crossword Clue

Make, as money NYT Crossword Clue

Display size or camera res, e.g. NYT Crossword Clue

Antiracist movement since 2013, in brief NYT Crossword Clue

Letters acknowledging debt NYT Crossword Clue

‘I ___,’ said the blind man, as he picked up a hammer and saw NYT Crossword Clue

[crossfoxbuns]

Keep a Link Garden!

The Internet is Big

Like, REALLY big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is - or how much this intro has been overused since Hitchhiker's Guide has been a thing.

But it is big. Big enough that if you don't have some kind of system for keeping things you want to remember, there's no way in hell that you can remember it. What is a "thing you want to remember" though?

For me, it's everything from interesting blogs and webcomics, to YouTube favorites, to pin on Pinterest, to random shops I'd love to buy things from if I had money, to cool examples and inspirations - that kind of thing.

Each platform kinda has a way of letting you organize your favorite stuff - but it only works on that platform.

Enter the humble bookmark. Remember those? Before revamping my system I had nearly 1000 of them. YIKES.

But bookmarks are just SO GOOD at being the one thing that always works to save stuff for later. No matter the platform, every piece of content has a unique URL - that's how it has to be. And with unique URLs, bookmarks become the best way to save stuff in one place no matter the platform.

Personally this became a problem for me a couple of months ago. Because of my work and general techie interests, I switch web browsers all the time. I've used 'em all. Most recently I was trying out Arc browser. It's generally quite nice! It took the spotlight/global search sort of approach to literally everything, which tickles my brain in the right ways.

There's still a big problem with Arc though - no way to export stuff very well. (Pro tip: before you commit to a software, make sure you can leave the thing easily!) And because Arc's philosophy doesn't really do bookmarks (I just had a space on the side with hundreds of "pinned tabs"), when I finally found a stupid, roundabout way to get my list of bookmarks out, it was just that - a plain old list. The organization was gone. It was just hundreds and hundreds of links all piled together into a bin with no sorting whatsoever.

So I decided that this was the time to really start organizing this pile of links. It's like the inside of my brain, covered head to toe in random sticky notes, half of which don't make sense anymore. To start things off, I found Raindrop.

Raindrop is a place to put my bookmarks that, first and foremost, isn't married to a particular browser. Whether I'm using Arc, Firefox, Safari, on any device, doesn't matter - I get to my bookmarks the same way.

Another benefit is that Raindrop's app lets me share links and stuff to it using the phone's built-in sharing function, which makes saving the bookmarks way easier!

The icing on the cake? You can upload files to it as well. Images, documents, whatever. This got me thinking. I have a rather large collection of images saved on Pinterest...

By the way, Pinterest also sucks when it comes to exporting things. I had to use a downloaded tool that crawls the account and downloads the resources it finds, which felt gross. But with my stuff out of Pinterest, it meant one less corpo-site I relied on, so I'll take it. Uploading all those pins back into Raindrop was nice and simple. Raindrop even has a "moodboard" view mode, which looks suspiciously like Pinterest's masonry look, but without the ads and tracking scripts.

After adding my old pins to the collection, my bookmark garden is now just shy of 2000 links and images. I've been spending the past couple of weeks going through the giant pile and deleting old ones, sorting the rest into fresh categories, and giving things meaningful tags. That's another thing, I love that Raindrop uses and encourages tagging! Regular browsers take note - when there's a lot of something that someone will want to find again - support tags. Please. Not that I'll be doing that since I have transcended browser bookmarks, but you know.

Lots of stuff yet to sort and tag - about 600 links and 1000 images left to go - but it's coming along. And I'm tagging things as I continue to find links to add to the garden as well. Once that process is done, I'll have that nigh-perfect system - never needing to forget something again. If I want to browse some shops, I won't go to Etsy, I'll go the shops section of my private link garden. Carefully and lovingly curated. :)

Bonus points - if Raindrop gets enshittified, they have a couple of great exporting options, including a good old OPML file that every other bookmark manager can use.

[countertopshopo]

Installation Day for Granite or Quartz Countertops: What to Expect  

Congratulations! You just received notice that your new quartz or granite counters from The Countertop Shop are ready for installation at your Toledo or Perrysburg area home. What happens next?

Your Base Cabinets are Ready and Waiting

Before we arrive with your new custom granite or quartz countertop, the base cabinets must be in their final position. If you are using your old cabinets, check that they are level after discarding the old countertop.

Your new appliances, sink, and faucets should all be on site.

A Clear Pathway to the Kitchen or Bathroom

While our team is strong and has done this many times in the past, that piece of stone is still very heavy. Please have all furniture and rugs cleared from the path from the door to the kitchen or bathroom to avoid accidents. In the winter, ensure your stairs and driveway are free of snow and ice.

Experienced Technicians Muscle the Countertops In Place

Our own team of installation experts apply an adhesive to the bottom of the countertop slab and then slide them into place. They will check all edges for even positioning. The adhesive does not set immediately, allowing for some time to achieve the perfect fit.

Seams are Filled and Sealed

Where you have two pieces of countertop that meet, your installers will fill the gap with resin, color, and stone dust to achieve a near-invisible seam. Once the seam dries, it is just as durable as the rest of your granite or quartz countertop.

The Sink and Faucets are Installed

Our installers will attach your new sink and the faucets. They may need to cut a hole in the countertop for the taps. The sink can be an undermount, drop-in, or apron style--but this choice must be made when ordering the countertop. You cannot make a change in size or style after your countertop is ordered.

Wait a Day to Connect Plumbing and Appliances

After the installation team leaves, you will need to wait a day to connect the water lines and start using your new kitchen countertop. This time allows the adhesives to fully cure, ensuring that your new counters will not move in the future.

Let Us Know How We Did

If you have any questions or concerns after your installers have left, don't hesitate to give us a ring at The Countertop Shop. We are committed to your complete satisfaction and want to help you enjoy your stunning new countertops for many years in the future.

Don't forget to tell your friends in the Perrysburg and Toledo area about your gorgeous new granite and quartz countertops from The Countertop Shop!

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