#sorry in advance for any more rambling text posts. typing it out helps

[lordsardine]

.

[kachowthunder]

OKAY FOLLOW UP TO THIS POST: https://at.tumblr.com/kachowthunder/theres-a-lot-of-respect-for-lynda-in-the-weathers/fkqn2kzbywbd the whole proposal idea has me thinking- CAL WOULD BE ONE OF THOSE GUYS WHO WOULD PROPOSE AND HAVE THIS BIG SPEECH HE MADE LIKE WEEKS IN ADVANCE WITH HELP FROM THE WHOLE FAMILY- TEX WAS EVEN IN ON THIS- AND THEN FORGET EVERYTHING HE WROTE DOWN THE MOMENT HE SEES YOU STANDING IN FRONT OF HIM AND HE'S DOWN ON HIS KNEE. MAN FREEZES. HE'S IN SHOCK. HE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT TO THINK OR DO. SO HE BABBLES A LITTLE, TRYING TO REGAIN HIS THOUGHTS BUT EVERYTHING IS GOING BLANK AND HE THINKS HE FUCKED IT UP. BUT LIKE- BOBBY AND LIGHTING ARE LITTLE NOSEY PEOPLE AND DEF CAME ALONG WITH CAL BUT SECRETLY. LIKE, THEY'RE HIDING IN THE BUSHES TYPE OF DEAL. THEY'RE WATCHING AND SEEING HIM FUCK UP AND JUST- BOTH WONDERING HOW THEY CAN SAVE THIS. IT'S A STATE OF PANIC, IT'S A STATE OF EVERYTHING IS GOING WRONG WHAT CAN WE DO. BUT- BUT BUT. AS SOON AS ONE OF THEM WERE GOING TO SAY SOMETHING. CAL BEGAN TALKING. AND HE BEGAN JUST RAMBLING ON ABOUT RANDOM THINGS HE LOVED ABOUT HIS S/O AND HOW THEY MADE HIM SO HAPPY AND HOW HE WOULD BE THE LUCKIEST MAN IN THE WORLD IF THEY MARRIED HIM. AND LIKE- THEY WERE SHOCKED B/C HE WENT COMPLETELY OFF SCRIPT BUT SO PROUD AT THE SAME TIME. DEF TEXTED LIKE STRIP, LYNDA, AND TEX TO KEEP THEM UPDATED. CAL PROBABLY SAID SOMETHING LIKE THIS: " I- uh... I'm.. sorry. I don't.. know how to do this. " Cal looked off to the side, nervous. It was visible in his eyes, in his rigid poster and his lightly trembling hands; hands in which were soon cupped over by the hands of the person standing in front of him. The person that he knew with all his heart that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. He tried swallowing down his nerves, trying to go on for them. They deserved better than this.. and he needed to give them better. " Hun, I.. " He took a quick pause, trying to gather his words. You were being so patient with him, and he was so thankful for that. " I love you so'very'much.. I can't even describe it in words. You're the first thing I think'of when I wake up and my last thoughts when I go'to bed. When I have you by my side I feel like I can do everythin' and anythin' all at once without fear of judgement'or'failure. You.. make me a better man that I was before, and.. you make me feel like there's somethin' worth fightin' for in life. I.. I honestly had a whole speech prepared'an'ready, but I.. kind'of forgot it all when I saw your face. You just.. put a spell on'me that I don't understand but- not like, in a bad way. You just-..... I just don't know what words are right to'say right now.. and I don't think any words are right for a moment like this. " Cal paused, having to breath out shakily for a moment. He could feel your gentle glaze on him, listening to him like he was the only thing in the universe.. but he didn't expect to see you crying a little when he looked up. It shocked him a little, and he kind of felt bad.. " I.. no- don't cry. I'just.. I just wanted to ask you to marry me- " HE WAS SUCH A NERVOUS BOY THROUGHOUT IT ALL-

THIS- THIS HAS ME GIGGLING SO MUCH OMG THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT WOULD HAPPEN😭 POOR CAL. THE MAN DOESNT HAVE A SINGLE ROMANTIC PART IN HIS WHOLE BODY BUT MY GOD HE TRIES HIS BEST. THE “don’t cry I just wanted to ask if I can marry you” IS SINGLE HANDEDLY THE MOST CAL THING EVER

I CAN JUST IMAGINE WHEN LIGHTNING OR BOBBY TEXTS TEX, LYNDA AND STRIP ABOUT HOW CAL NEARLY FUCKED UP HIS MARRIAGE PROPOSAL, TEX NUDGES STRIP AND SAYS “You two have more in common than I thought”. IN THE FUTURE THEY WILL ALL LAUGH ABOUT IT BUT MAN POOR CAL WOULD BE AS BRIGHT AS A TOMATO WHEN THE REST FIND OUT HOW BAD IT WENT.

omg I just had a thought, what if Cal’s s/o has never been on a ranch before? What if the s/o is from a huge city and has never really seen what a genuine southern ranch looks like? What if the s/o is terrified of large animals like cows and horses? And what if Cal and the rest of the weathers (plus Tex) help them overcome their fears of them?😭

[reactingtosomething]

Reacting to The Good Place: “Team Cockroach”

Inevitable Downfall

The Setup: Find our previous reactions to season 2 of The Good Place here. 

SPOILERS BELOW for the October 5 episode, “Team Cockroach.”

KRIS:

After last week's madness, "Team Cockroach" is largely a bottle episode -- that is, it sticks to one regularly used location to save money for the future, or, as may be the case here, to make up for previous big expenditures -- with Tahani's flashback ("one of the women or yachts to grace your cover") briefly taking us elsewhere. It also feels a lot like what in a serialized drama we'd call a table-setting, or maybe piece-moving, episode, with Eleanor and "friends" (more on that below) just arguing about whether to believe and join forces with Michael, who efficiently brings them up to speed on things we already know. One by one, Jason and Chidi and Tahani accept Michael's offer: If they help him fool Vicky, and they study ethics when she isn't looking so that they actually become better people, he won't erase their brains... and he can get them to the real Good Place. But Eleanor decides that rather than "make a deal with an actual devil," she'll return to the Medium Place, with lots of cocaine for Mindy St. Claire. 

Then Chidi makes an uncharacteristically ("You take half an hour to pick out a turtleneck") calm appeal to her better nature. Eleanor doesn't bring up what she's just learned about her soulmate-level bond with him, but it's clearly part of her motivation to ask Michael how often she's had to improve herself without Chidi's guidance. The answer? Never. Chidi always helps. That was part of Michael's original plan; Eleanor seemed like the perfect Bad Student. He just never expected Chidi to succeed as a teacher. "Pesky little nerd." 

Is it cosmically convenient soulmate-ness? Unconscious retention of the teensiest bit of growth? Chidi's innate decency? Good old Opposites Attract chemistry? Mix and match? Whatever the reason, it convinces Eleanor to stick around with what she dubs Team Cockroach (after a lighthearted Truth Hurts insult from Michael):

“Describe me next!”

It's always a joy to hear Eleanor Describing Things, but maybe you noticed that "narcissistic monster" is pretty different from how she characterized Tahani the last time we heard the list: "a selfish ass, an idiot DJ, a tortured academic, a hot rich fraud with legs for days..." And now I begin to understand the appeal of presenting us again with Dirtbag Eleanor. It's not just Tahani she's super mean to -- she barely considers Jason a person -- but the sharp contrast with last season's "legit be[ing] into Tahani" has a particular sting to it. In Version 1, Eleanor and Tahani became friends despite themselves, and even after the revelation of Eleanor's betrayal, reconciled and cemented their bond by agreeing not to fight over a man. In this version, Tahani both (briefly) retains her smug sense of superiority and yet is repeatedly cowed by a venomous Eleanor. "I'm sorry, has it been a hundred hours?" Hilarious, yet hurtful.

"Boy, you guys barely know each other," Michael said in what Ted Danson beautifully delivered as a throwaway observation. "That's gonna make this tough." It's not just going to be tough for them, logistically; it's also going to be tough for us, emotionally, knowing how these "four dumb-dumbs" truly bonded on their first go-'round. Team Schur didn't just give us a reset; they set up some great dramatic irony. I've got Janet questions and lots more lines to quote, but what were everyone else's main thoughts and takeaways this week? And I'll now formally ask what I joked about after the season premiere: Who would be your perfect special guest star(s) representing the real Good Place?

MIRI:

Kris, you’re such a tease with your “I have thoughts on x but I want your thoughts first” moments. I’m dying to hear your Janet questions now. My thoughts (other than the general state of being insanely impressed by the performance and enjoying the hell out of the character) mostly have to do with her being the most advanced Janet in the universe. If that level of improvement is possible, why not just start them all out at a high level? Is the human interaction necessary? I am super excited for Janet’s slightly more nuanced decision making processes—her loyalty being to the 4 humans, etc.—while remaining a character with no motivation of her own.

In thinking about Eleanor’s meanness this episode I started thinking about how Tahani’s sister is a way worse person than her (she’s the wooooooorst and I hope you all heard that in Jean-Ralphio Saperstein’s voice). And that leads me to the fact that none of our four are actually terrible people. Eleanor is arguably the worst and she wasn’t THAT bad. She wasn’t great and she was a total dirtbag, but there have been a lot of dramatically worse people in history. Chidi was a good person. He caused some distress, sure, but again—nothing compared to a lot of people. Tahani helped a TON of people and her bad true intentions were selfish, not cruel. Jason was mostly just very very unintelligent. So why are these four being tortured? And why are they being specially tortured? Did they need close-to-medium people to be able to sell the ruse? Does everyone who is not an extremely Good person automatically get the same level of torture, or are there degrees? I think they’re definitely going to explore how absurd that kind of binary system of morality is further and I’m looking forward to it! Does anyone buy Michael’s whole “Maybe we’ll all earn our way into the Good Place” spiel? Does anyone think HE buys it?

This is 100% influenced by the fact that I’m thinking about Star Trek: Discovery, but I would love to see Michelle Yeoh as a Good Place figure. When I say 100% I mean it—I fully admit that I haven’t seen any of her other work (I KNOW! I’m working on it! I have seen the light, I promise!) but she can clearly do wisdom and also have fun with it, which I think is an important skill for this show. Although, do we think Good Place officials will be nice people? They’re part of this fairly brutal system—are they just as ruthless as their counterparts, but more pleasant about it? What do you guys think?

source

(I lie, I have seen Michelle Yeoh in SUNSHINE and MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA too.)

ADAM:

I can't remember which one of you spoke about Janet remembering anything with every reboot, but you were correct. However, I think that while she remembers everything she is still a robot that is ruled by binary thinking, (yes/no, right/wrong) and therefore does not realize that sometimes there is a grey area. Remember, she is only helping because her main directive is to help humans. I think that her memories of everything are what is going to be this team's inevitable downfall. I think the Good Place people are solely logical and see everything black and white. I don't think there is any kind of wiggle room on their point system. I imagine that the Good Place board of directors is operated by essentially a supreme court style of Vulcans. No emotion, just facts, and figures. 

Also, I wouldn't classify Eleanor and Co. as the worst. I would look at them all as selfish instead of just bad people. With Eleanor, it's always about what is the easiest thing for her or what she can gain from a situation. This show deals more about the selfish in people than just plain nastiness. I don't think anyone has mentioned that Tahani's sister is in fact actually in the real Good Place. Or did they? Need to go back and look into it. I do like they gave Tahani more time this episode. 

I doubt Michael buys his speech to the gang of flesh bags. Mainly because he so desperately wants his way to work and to stand out amongst the Bad Place HOF that he is willing to do anything that he can to survive. 

KRIS:

Honestly my “I have thoughts on x but I want your thoughts first” moments are mostly to keep myself from rambling for 500 more words. I figure I'm not the only one who has the thoughts I have, so I don't have to be the one to say them. In this case, I am also kind of confused about the design decisions behind Janet's social improvement. To Adam's point, I didn't get the impression that she's retaining information; I read it more as a Jason Bourne-type thing where she retains the skills but not any knowledge that goes with them. Or at least, that's the interpretation that makes the most sense to me. I don't know that the text supports it. Janet says that she just gets better with every reboot, not that she gets better over time because her experiences are cumulative. (Her line about not being able to lie is what I think will come back around to bite Team Cockroach.) Maybe the design idea was that the neighborhoods should sort of run on autopilot with as little active help as possible, and reboots essentially send the message that a neighborhood needs more help, so Janet is incrementally improved, like a video game suggesting that you lower the difficulty level after you've died a zillion times. This still doesn't really explain the extra-dumb, extra-strange post-reset Janet of last season, but maybe we can handwave that by saying that the neighborhood as a whole is supposed to be reset with her, and there's some indeterminate rest period between each version during which the "shut down" Janet re-"downloads" All the Knowledge in the Universe.

I think Michael is being more or less honest, but also that he has no idea if his plan will work. It's just that there are no good options. This is as good an excuse as any to trot out: "You can't, but you have to. Logically, you shouldn't, but you have no choice. I mean I wouldn't, if I were you. It's a crazy thing to do. But you gotta.”

I wonder if the answer to our questions about the absurdly harsh point system is something along the lines that the people who run the Good and Bad Places were not really cosmically appointed by a supreme moral authority, and instead it's all rooted in a bunch of elaborate afterlife political gamesmanship. In any case I've never really gotten the impression that our four were singled out for who they are; it's Michael who's an outlier, because he wanted to try his new thing. Something I thought was interesting and cool in the season 1 finale is that Chidi and Tahani are in the Bad Place for opposite reasons. Chidi had the best of intentions (deontological plus), but never did anything good in his life because of his indecision (utilitarian minus); and Tahani did an incredible amount of good (utilitarian plus), but for the wrong reasons (deontological minus). Eleanor did bad things and had bad, or at least mediocre, intentions. I guess Jason could be here because he just made a lot of people unhappy in the course of being the biggest idiot in Florida? Plus all the property damage. And I feel like at some point he said he was a drug dealer?

Adam, who would your ideal special guest star from the real Good Place be? I'd kind of love to see Alison Becker (Parks's Shauna Malwae-Tweep) or Kathryn Hahn show up. Really my first choice is Terry Crews, in a suit, singing Vanessa Carlton, but that feels particularly unlikely. Beyond the Schur-verse, I'll say... maybe Vella Lovell from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend? I don't know, this is harder than I thought.

MIRI:

Yeah, the more we talk about it the more sure I am that whoever runs the Good Place is not a nice/kind/moral being. I realize this is utter folly, but do you guys think we’ll see the Good Place by the end of this season? I definitely think we’ll see someone from the Good Place, but I’m not sure about an actual journey there.

I think there’s an argument to be made that Eleanor and Jason are in a way complimentary in the reasons they’re in the Bad Place. Eleanor knew her actions were bad but didn’t actively want to hurt people, she just didn’t care enough to let that stop her. Jason didn’t understand that he was causing harm, but did without giving any thought to it. Chidi and Tahani both tried to do good (unsuccessfully and for the wrong reasons, as Kris pointed out), while Eleanor and Jason didn’t try at all. I guess as far as Team Cockroach is concerned it’s a real damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation. 

ADAM:

I guess if we are applying phrases to team cockroach: The enemy of my enemy is my friend, well that's what Michael thinks at least. I doubt we will see the actual Good Place ever during the series. Maybe keep it as this mythical land that no can ever achieve to get to, or something to that extent. I think we will see GP representatives. And to answer your question Kris about who I would like to be a GP rep. There is only one right answer to that. Amy Poehler.

Facebook | Twitter

[thatvideogamezoo]

Introduction of ThatZooooooooo

I like to repost this at the beginning of every month because I get some new followers with a frequency. It helps new people get to know me a little better. So if you’re interested, click the break below to find out more about me.

(Break for length, click if you want to find out more about me)

I am the one known as ThatZooooooooo across the internets. My blog is named ThatVideoGameZoo because somebody gave me the idea for a catchy blog name and I couldn’t pass it up.

And before we get into it, I will tell you some personal details about myself to help you identify me. I have this all publicly on my profiles on other places, no harm putting them here.

My real name is Douglas Carter, born on August 20, 1993. I currently live on the east coast of the United States of America, in the state of Pennsylvania, in the town of Waynesboro. I am currently a student at The Pennsylvania State University at the Mont Alto campus, working towards a degree in IST.

So yeah, there’s that I guess if you’re interested. Now on to the actual profile.

I like video games and video game accessories, I tell ya what.

You will see me talk about video games a lot, and I have a tendency to post a lot of music from video games, because I just really like listening to them. I also like to link to video game related videos like LPs or Speedruns or other nonsense periodically. I sometimes like to post screenshots of games I’m playing to show my progress and interact with people while I play or something, kinda like a Photo LP in progress I guess.

I like a lot of games, and I’m fine usually playing any game. I’ve probably played it or heard of it at some point; one of my many nicknames is “The Walking FAQ.” I can usually talk about any game at length.

Even though I play a lot of games, you will see me play certain games a lot more so than others. Some of my favorite games include Sonic The Hedgehog, Pokemon, Super Smash Bros, Mega Man, Tetris, Puyo Puyo, Kingdom Hearts, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Star Fox, Metal Gear, OutRun, Daytona USA, Fortune Street, Culdcept, Advance Wars, Final Fantasy Tactics, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Perfect Dark, Castlevania, Banjo-Kazooie, and Street Fighter. This is just a short list though, there’s a lot more stuff I wanted to put here, but hopefully this will give a general idea of what I like to play.

My gaming habits also tend towards doing Speedruns or Challenge Runs of games more so than normal playthroughs. I still just play games normally, because that’s still fun, but I like to do weird stuff, like beat the first Resident Evil on Hard with only the Knife or do built in challenge runs like Lv 1 Critical Mode on Kingdom Hearts II. I like being challenged and doing hard things, you will always see me do the hardest difficulty when I play games, even on a normal playthrough, and even on games that I suck at. The way I see it, the best way to “get good” is to challenge yourself to play better.

I also play many games competitively. I’m a highly competitive person when it comes to games, and I have a lot of fun competing with people. I do play in competitive game tournaments, most notably Super Smash Bros, Street Fighter, Pokemon, Puyo Puyo, and Tetris, so you may see me play those games a lot because I need to keep my skills up. And hey, if you wanna throw down, I’ll thrown down with ya and not let up.

Despite my competitive nature, my favorite moments are Cooperative playthroughs. One of my favorite memories is playing through the PS1 port of Diablo in Co-op with a good friend at the time. I also like to do stuff like start playthroughs of single player games at the same time as people and we progress and play through the game together, for example playing through Pokemon together. I enjoy playing games with people, and even if it is a single player experience, I find my own way to share the experience with others.

Along with video games, I also play table top games like Pathfinder/D&D and board games too. You may see me talk about the occasional table top game I play.

I also play Trading Card Games too, mostly the Pokemon TCG. I will talk about the degenerate decks and shenanigans that happen there too.

I also tend to make a lot of Text Posts. I like to ramble on able nearly anything. Once I get started on something it usually takes me a while for it to stop. I usually talk about video games, but I like talking about other stuff a lot too. That’s why I tag text posts #ThatRamblingZoo, so you can blacklist them using xkit if you get tired of my yammering.

You will notice I tend to reblog or post arts/creative works from people too. I don’t know how, but I’ve made a lot of artist friends over the years, and I can barely draw a stick figure well. I like to support people I… well… like. The thing is, you probably won’t see most of them on this blog, because there’s a reason for that. If one of you is reading this, just know I still support you on this blog fully by at least liking and replying to posts, I can only post SFW stuff here.

You may notice my Reblog to “Original” content ratio is heavily in favor of “original” content, you probably won’t see a whole lot of reblogs from me. I tend to Like a lot of things, so you can always check out my Likes Page , but be warned, there is NSFW content in there. Only check those if you are prepared to handle some NSFW content.

Hey, I’m not also called “Captain Loophole” for nothing. Likes aren’t really easily accessible, so long as I don’t physically post sensitive content publicly with no warning, I’m not entirely at fault here. I’m not liable for what you see when you check my Likes, you have been warned before hand.

I also have a NSFW blog for NSFW reblogs if you’re interested. Again, be warned, there is a lot of NSFW content in there, and may contain things you may or may not agree with. This is what most of my artist friends draw, so this is where reblogs of their works go… along with any other interesting art I find. I urge you to read the blog description before you judge me too harshly. But hey, if you like what I post over there, I don’t mind talking about that stuff with ya too.

I also have a separate NSFW Ask blog for NSFW asks and stuff due to few friends wanting to have a place to ask me more NSFW question without the reblogs from my other cluttering them up. And hey, maybe it will also produce more dialogue.

And I have a VGM blog as well. I made it because I love VGM, so if you’re looking for some tunes, feel free to give it a look. It will mostly be songs from games I’ve played, but I just appreciate video game music. It’s special to me.

I’m a big sissy when it comes to talking to people, I’ll admit up front. I probably won’t talk to you a lot, and I’m sorry for that. It takes a while for me to open up and be willing to talk to you first. Even if it seems like I have no problem spouting whatever whenever, I don’t do more intimate interactions well. I’ll probably tend to be quiet and only respond stiffly and minimally when prompted at first, but as you talk to me, I’ll probably be more willing to elaborate or make stupid jokes, or offer to help with more complex tasks.

I do tend to like more of your posts the more I’m comfortable with you though if you want something to go by. I’m the “Passively Friendly” type I guess.

In short, don’t be afraid to talk to me! I’m a big sissy so you don’t have to be! I like talking with people that genuinely want to talk to me. I’m also honestly fine talking about anything you want, I just like hanging out with people. I like listening to you talk, especially if you’re passionate about the subject.

If you want me to see something or start a conversation with me, you can always send me an Ask , a Fanmail, tag me as @ ThatVideoGameZoo in a post, or shoot a post through by Submissions box.

If you want to talk to me elsewhere I’m on Twitter as @ ThatZooooooooo (which I usually prefer as I can send a quick response immediately, as Tumblr’s messaging system isn’t the greatest) and I’m available on Skype or QQ as ThatZooooooooo. I also have a Discord, which you can reach me at ThatZooooooooo#6564. If you want to look for me anywhere else, it’s a safe bet I’m probably ThatZooooooooo.

As for gaming stuff…

Nintendo Network ID: ThatZooooooooo

3DS Friend Code: 0963-4124-8485

Steam: psn_thatzooooooooo (yes, the psn_ part is needed)

Playstation Network: ThatZooooooooo

Xbox Live: ThatZooooooooo (I don’t have Gold, so I’m pretty limited use here)

If you want to add me, tell me so I can add you and not let the request expire.

So… yeah, that’s about all I can think of I guess. If I think of anything else, I’ll extend/alter this post the next time I think I should post it.

Thank you for checking me out, and I hope to have some pleasant interactions!

[datingadviceonreddit]

Hi all, first time posting to Reddit so sorry in advance if I ramble or do something wrong. Ill try and make this as brief and clear as possible.Some background to paint a self portrait. I'm a 25(m) and work in sales for a large distributor. I've always struggled with self esteem issues, so trying to figure out if someone is into me has always been a chore. I'm by no means a Debbie Downer about myself, I actually like to think I exude confidence and don't care about other peoples opinions. But deep down I have a real bad self-image of myself.With that in mind, I know I for sure bring some good qualities to the table. I have a decent job, I live in a house with a room mate that we purchased, i'm independent, I've got a good group of friends and a great personality. Don't want to toot my on horn, but I like to think of myself as pretty funny. I make most people I meet laugh in some way or another, and the coworker I am into is no exception. Lets get to her, I mean that's what i'm here to do after all.Ill try and describer her as best I can, we'll call her Molly. She's a 26(f) single mom with an awesome little dude for a son. The dad is still in the picture as far as a dad goes and from what I can gather from her telling me, hes not a bad dad at all. Maybe a not-so-great guy in general, but a decent dad nonetheless. Physically shes a very short and petite girl, and very in shape. I only mention this because I currently rock a dad bod (not a dad though), and I think this is one reason I debate shooting my shot or not. Our physical differences are pretty, well, different. I'm working to improve myself physically but it's a slow process. Her personality though, is almost identical to mine. We're both very sarcastic people and can easily pick fun at each other and others as well as receive it. Hopefully that's enough about each of us individually for you all to get an idea, if not let me know and I can elaborate further.Now I'll chat about our friendship thus far. We've been friends just about as long as we've worked at the same company, so about 2.5 years. The first time we hung out outside of work, I asked her if she wanted to grab sushi and she said yes. I didn't call it a date out loud but I like to think it was somewhat implied. After the first little bit of the typical awkwardness, we chatted about the usual topics 2 people talk about, what're you into outside of work, favorite music, etc etc. We found out we share a lot in common in that sense, especially music taste (alternative/punk rock). After sushi we started hanging out more frequently, usually every other weekend when she didn't have her son. There was a lull for some time where we didn't but we still talked quite a bit at work over IM. Recently we've picked back up hanging out.Alright, I guess now I'll talk about why I think (and hope) shes into me, strap in because I think this will be where the bulk of my story is. Right off the top of my head, a lot of the times we'll hang out it's because she asks. It's never "oh hey me and some friends are going out, you should come", it's "hey if you're free this weekend we should go downtown for some drinks or do dinner." I may be reading into it way too much, but they always feel kinda like dates. I've got a couple of examples I think may tip the scales one way or the other. On one occasion, she texted me around 8pm asking what I was doing, I told her the usual, hanging out at home watching TV. She asked if I had wanted to hang out and I of course said "yea, what do you have in mind?". Now, previously we had talked about me not knowing how to play many card games (think like poker and Texas hold'em). So she asked if I wanted to come over and play, she'd teach me how to play. Bare in mind this is 8 almost 9pm by the time I get to her place, all to just sit and play cards together. Which is what we did, we played some card game I had never played before and talked about our lives. She and I both hadn't known each other too long at this point but she told me some really deep stuff about her past and I reciprocated. And that was that, I left around 11pm. I for sure thought this was a weird happening but didn't know what to make of it. On another occasion, I picked her up for dinner one night, we went, had a drink or 2, and had a great time. I drove her home of course, parked in front of her apartment for about 5 minutes to chat and she got out. I was driving away and just as I left her apartment gate, got a text saying "you could have come in lol". I'm not one to invite myself in, anywhere. I didn't know how to respond and just said something along the lines of "oh haha I didn't want to invite myself in" and left it at that.Now those are just 2 instances I can think of right off the top of my head but there are a few more small things that lead me to believe this happening may be a possibility. Whenever we're driving somewhere together she always wants to DJ what we listen to so I let her. She'll often play a lot of songs about love, or relationships, or whatnot. I try to just think of it as a random selection but I don't know if it is. Specifically though, she always plays this one song Jon Bellions "All Time Low". If you haven't heard it, give it a listen, its a great song! It's also a somewhat sappy love-type song. We have a little inside joke everywhere we go there's live music where we go "I wonder if the DJ here knows that song." I once recently asked her why she plays that song all the time and she said "I don't know, its a really good song and I only play it around..." and then she trailed off and wouldn't finish her sentence. Now I know, I may be overthinking this totally but I like to think she was going to say "around you." Alright, last little tidbit I'll give you all. There's one thing we do when we go out where we'll pretend to get into a fake little "couple fight" to make other people around us go "wtf?". Nothing ever crazy, just gives us a laugh. Often, a host/hostess will be seating us and say something like "oh you 2 can sit on the same side of the booth if you want." I'll usually blurt out "we're not together" out of just general awkwardness. One or two times I've done this though she's jokingly said "oh i thought this was a date" and laugh it off. There was also a time one of our fake couple fights was something about me not caring for her anymore and she goes "you won't even hold my hand in public!". We just laughed at the strange stares passerby's gave us.Oh!! One more thing, and I promise I'm done! Within the passed month, I noticed she was on Tinder because I'm also on Tinder and saw her profile. Now, you need to note this girl has 0 social media and has sworn she'd never use a dating site because of the horror stories she's heard. So I was definitely surprised when I saw her. I took note of her Tinder bio, and texted her a little snippit of it making fun of her. She cracked up, told me she finally broke and wanted to see what it was about. She also told me she'd probably deleting it soon as well because nasty dudes were being, well, nasty dudes. I told her I totally understand that but if you delete before I get my match notification, I'll take it personally, in a joking manner. She said something along the lines of "oh no, you found my profile, I am for SURE looking for yours." A day later I IMed her at work and let her know I still had not gotten a match notification. She told me she had spent 2 hours the night before swiping left on dudes endlessly looking for me. I told her not to worry about it, I was joking, and I'm sure there are plenty more dudes to go through that women. She shortly deleted later that day after being fed up with the grossness. I, in the mean time however, had matched with someone else on Tinder and brought it up to her. This girl I had matched was pregnant, but that stuff doesn't bother me. Now Molly seemed a lot more interested in this Tinder match than I. She asked me on 2 separate occasions "so how would that work if you guys start seeing each other and she has the kid?". I responded honestly "I don,t mind, Id help with this kid if she wanted me to or just stay out of it that's what she wanted." I talked to Tinder match for about a week and a half, and daily to semi-daily, Molly would ask how she was. I'd say fine, I'm not really vibing with her but ill give her a shot. Luckily I never had to, because she found someone else on Tinder ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. No sweat off my back, but I found it odd Molly asked about her a lot.Alright Reddit, that,s my story. I'll end with this, I really REALLY like this girl, not just your usual run of the mill crush. That's why i'm petrified of coming out and telling her how I feel. Plus, lets say my guts wrong and i'm looking into this all wrong, it would make work pretty damn awkward. Looking back on this as my first post it looks like I wrote a small novel so I get if no one reads this or reads it in full. Typing this all up is kind a of a good way for me to reflect. But id really enjoy some second opinions and advise if you have time. Sorry again for any error or wall of text! If you need any other info just let me know :) thanks!​ via /r/dating_advice

[ber39james]

How to Improve Writing Skills in 15 Easy Steps

Learning a variety of writing skills isn’t as difficult as you may think. We’ve put together a list of steps to help you make dramatic improvements to the quality of your writing in short order.

Becoming a better writer takes practice, and you’re already practicing. No, seriously—you write a lot. Even if you don’t think of yourself as a writer, you put thoughts into text more often than you realize. At the very least, you write emails—a lot of emails—post on social media, make updates to your résumé and LinkedIn profile, and message your friends. If your job requires it, you also create things like reports, presentations, newsletters . . . it’s a long list.

So, you’re already writing. Now, improving your writing skills is just a matter of becoming conscious of the things you can do to give your text more structure and make your copy crisp and readable with a conversational style.

Give Your Writing Structure

It’s fine to rattle off a stream of consciousness when you’re writing in your journal, but if you actually want to communicate with others you’ll need to bring some order to those rambling thoughts. Here are some tips.

1 Make sure you’re clear on the concepts you’re writing about.

Albert Einstein said, “If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself.” Before you start writing, take a moment to mentally explain the concept to the six-year-old who lives inside your head. (We all have one, don’t we?) If your writing goal is to achieve a specific result, ask yourself what that result should be. Before you dive into writing, have a clear purpose. Then stick to it.

https://giphy.com/embed/tVdML3v7EUq1W

via GIPHY

2 If the message is complex, outline it.

It doesn’t take much thought-organizing to compose the average text message, but if you’re writing something more complex, with multiple angles, questions, or requests, get all that stuff sorted before you sit down to write. Making an outline, or even just some quick notes about the topics you want to cover, can save you time answering clarifying questions later. And speaking of questions . . .

3 Anticipate your readers’ questions.

Put yourself in your readers’ shoes. Do they have enough context to understand what you’ve written for them? If not, fill in the blanks. But . . .

4 Don’t over-explain everything.

If you’ve taken the time to organize your thoughts in advance, you should be able to keep things simple. The idea is to give readers just enough to understand what you’re communicating without overwhelming them with trivial details. If you find yourself getting in the weeds with more details than you need, look at each piece of information and ask whether it’s essential to help your reader understand your message. If not, get rid of it.

Tighten Your Writing

We sometimes write like we talk, and that can be a good thing. It keeps our writing conversational (more on that in a moment.) But rambling, wordy writing makes your text hard to read, and it can make you sound as though you lack conviction. Start practicing these skills to streamline your writing.

5 Go easy on the prepositional phrases

When I was a neophyte writer, someone showed me how prepositional phrases made my writing unnecessarily wordy and complex. It was an epiphany!

https://giphy.com/embed/7nfYQYbqxOao8

via GIPHY

Prepositions aren’t difficult to understand, but the concept does require some explanation. Get smart about prepositions here, and then try to simplify them whenever it makes sense. Your writing will get a much-needed clarity boost.

6 Eliminate the filler words and phrases

Some words show up in our writing all the time, and yet they don’t contribute much of anything. Although these filler words and phrases sometimes add color or even meaning, most of the time they contribute nothing but clutter. Here are thirty-one of them you can eliminate right now.

Here’s even more help.

7 Don’t pad weak words with adverbs.

Adverbs—those words that often end in -ly—modify verbs and sometimes adjectives. They’re okay once in a while, but when you find yourself using them all the time, you’re probably making weak word choices. Instead of “ran really fast” write “sprinted.” Was something “extremely funny”? Nah, it was “hilarious.” The scenery may have been “very beautiful,” but your writing’s going to shine if you refer to it as “gorgeous,” “lush,” “verdant,” or “bucolic.”

Make Your Writing More Conversational

8 Stick with simple words.

Bestselling author John Grisham said, “There are three types of words: (1) words we know; (2) words we should know; (3) words nobody knows. Forget those in the third category and use restraint with those in the second.” There’s a difference between having a rich vocabulary and dropping million-dollar words into your writing just to show off. Unless it’s your intent to be poetic, keep your language simple and direct.

I’m certain sure you are able to can deliver the quality of work we’re looking for. Let’s discuss talk about it in our meeting next week.

9 Use contractions.

English speakers use contractions—you’re, I’m, we’re, they’re, can’t, didn’t. Your writing will sound stiff and formal without them. For example:

I am sure you are able to deliver the quality of work we are looking for. Let us discuss it in our meeting next week.

Now, let’s add some contractions. Doesn’t this sound less stuffy?

I’m sure you can deliver the quality of work we’re looking for. Let’s talk about it in our meeting next week.

10Try transcribing yourself.

Record yourself talking. You can learn a lot about conversational writing using this one weird trick! (Sorry, Buzzfeed, we tease because we care.)

Try transcribing a conversation you’ve recorded (with the other person’s permission, of course). Transcribe a couple of minutes of the conversation word-for-word. Then, fix or remove any false starts and remove filler (um, uh, like, you know)—et voila!—you’ve got yourself some conversational writing. The process of transcribing and editing will help you learn what to do and what not to.

11Throw away the grammar rule book . . . within reason.

We, the Grammarly team, give you permission to start sentences with conjunctions. And (see what we did there?) unless you’re writing something formal, we’re perfectly okay with you ending some sentences with prepositions. Write naturally, human! It’s all good.

12Keep your sentences simple.

Literary greats can write long, complex sentences with flair. Why not you? Well, for starters you’re probably not trying to write like Tolstoy, Nabokov, or Faulkner. Short, less complicated sentences are easier to read. Keep it simple, silly! But do vary your sentence length so your writing has a nice flow.

13Read it out loud.

Speaking of flow, reading your writing aloud can help you determine whether it flows smoothly. If it sounds choppy and clipped, add a few longer sentences to break up that steady, monotonous beat. If you find yourself stumbling over parts, you’ve probably found an overly complex sentence that needs rewriting. I always recommend reading your work out loud . . . because it works!

14Infuse your personality into your writing

Letting your personality shine through is the best way to develop a writing style. Use the phrases and slang that you would normally use (within reason). When it’s appropriate, throw in a relevant personal anecdote. In all but the most formal or professional writing settings, be yourself when you write.

15Practice, practice, practice!

The ultimate way to make your writing better is to learn what weakens it in the first place, and then set your mind to fixing (and eventually preventing) the glitches. The more you write, edit, and proofread, the better you get at it.

The post How to Improve Writing Skills in 15 Easy Steps appeared first on Grammarly Blog.

from Grammarly Blog https://www.grammarly.com/blog/how-to-improve-writing-skills/