#survey? on livejournal we called these surveys

[themickey]

MICKEY JACQUEMIN ( RUBY CRUZ ) is a TWENTY SIX year-old AEROSPACE ENGINEER in MONTREAL, CANADA. They were brought under Richard’s care when they were only ELEVEN YEARS OLD. They are known as THE NOSTALGIC because they are UNDERSTANDING but also NAIEVE.

BASIC INFORMATION

Full Name: michèle jacquemin (she only allows richard and mrs tristian to call her michèle)

Nickname(s): mickey, mick, mj

Date of Birth: march 5th, 1979

Age: 26

Occupation: aerospace engineer

Current Residence: montréal, canada

Orientation: lesbian

pinterest

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Hair: dark brown

Eyes: blue (maybe hazel, idk)

Height: 5'5"

Notable Features: full, expressive eyebrows. gay face

PERSONALITY & BEHAVIOR:

Strengths: kind, caring, understanding, loyal

Weaknesses: naive, gullible, too trusting, spacey

Quirks: always a bit fidgety, especially when excited or anxious. has an obnoxious french canadian accent

Vices: drinks occasionally and will never deny a drunk cigarette

INTEREST & HOBBIES:

Interests: space, comics, computers and the rise of new technology, music from the 90s, hockey (any good canadian should)

Hobbies: video games, mostly gameboy and the brand new nintendo ds. runs a myspace and livejournal like the military, always posting new "surveys" and blog posts daily even if no one reads them.

Special Skills/Talents: very good at math, can do long equations in her head without a calculator. can pick up most things pretty easily though she usually gets too distracted to keep up things for too long so she always had a bunch of unfinished projects or hobbies she gave up on

BECOMING A WARD

mickey, born in montreal, was raised by a single mother and never knew her dad. the only thing she knew about him was that he was american because she has dual citizenship. however, when she was seven years old, her mom passed of sudden heart attack. mickey was too young to really understand what happened but her life drastically changed. at first, cps tried to take her to her father in chicago, but he denied even knowing he had a kid and she was placed into foster care. she spent four years in foster care, some good homes and some bad but it never quite broke her spirit and generally positive outlook on the world. she caught richard's attention when he was visiting her school on a business trip and was intrigued by how bright she was and despite her teachers warning of how her hyperactivity makes it heard to teach her, richard decided to bring her to woodrow and give her the tools she needed to flourish.

LIFE AS A WARD

mickey was always seen as the naive ward, too trusting and gullible. she always seemed much younger than she really is and hates that people think she's the youngest even though she is quite young. she sees the others as her family but after much teasing from the other wards, she tries to keep those feelings to herself, she always wants the others to like her and make everyone happy. at first, she had trouble bonding with the other wards because english was not her first language, speaking mostly québécois french when she first came to the states but she quickly learned english and has since tried her best to connect with her fellow wards. there were many times she would get in trouble growing up because she's very easily influenced by the other wards, letting them drag her into their schemes and dumb ideas. if mickey wasn't a girl raised in the 80's and 90's she would probably be considered to have adhd and be autistic but since we didn't know as much about it back then, mickey was written off as being hyperactive and childish. she often visits woodrow even after moving away because it was the only place that has felt like home since she was a child. even though most of the wards are gone now, she still sees them all as a family. the last time she was home was just a few months before richard's passing.

AESTHETIC

mickey is never one to care about the latest fashion trend or what is in style, she prefers to be comfortable and wear things that make her feel good. she was always a tomboy growing up, would sometimes try to steal some of the boy wards' clothes until richard caught her and allowed her to shop in the boys' department of stores. she likes baggie clothes and will hide her body in layers. loves a good graphic tee over a long sleeve shirt. think of any classic 2000's teen heartthrob and put his wardrobe on a 5'5" girl. [pinterest inspo if you're curious] she's always preferred her hair on the shorter side, grateful that richard always allowed her to be herself and experiment with her looks. now it's cut past her chin and with swoopy bangs that she's always flicking out of her eyes. again, think of any 00's teen heartthrob with the classic vaguely scene boy hair cut

EDUCATION

mickey chose to go with the woodrow home schooling. she was never very good in a tradition school setting because her mind seemed to move faster than the teachers could teach which often got her into trouble for "acting out." so instead she liked that she could set her own pace with the teachers at woodrow and learn what she was interested in. after high school, she went on to go to richard's alma mater. she's always had a dream of going to space and working for nasa.

EXTRACURRICULARS 

mickey loved extracurriculars growing up, she did science club and science fairs, was a mathlete, even tried model un for a year but realized she didn't like geo political sciences. though, outside of her academic hobbies. as a child, she played hockey but was never quite big enough for it to get back into it as a teenager. instead, she found she loves fencing, which may seem out of character but as a young hyperactive teen, richard encouraged her to try a physical hobby to get her energy out and liked the idea of being able to swing a sword around.

THEIR LIFE NOW

after graduating college, mickey accepted a job at DART areospace in montreal. she didn't plan on going back home after spending so many years in america and being two and a half hours away from woodrow, but when the opportunity came, she couldn't say no. currently, she lives in an apartment in the city with her long term girlfriend, jessica, and their cat. unbeknownst to the other wards, however, mickey and her gf have not been on the best terms. they met while in college and when mickey took the job, jessica moved with her but moving to a new country has caused a lot of tension between them. jessica thinks mickey works too long of hours and doesn't give her the attention she deserves because even when she's not at work, she's talking and thinking about work. mickey's not perfect, but she loves jessica. before receiving the letter about richard's death, they had the talk about how they want different things in life and mickey knows their relationship is pretty much over. going back to woodrow for the funeral, she's not sure what she'll be coming home to and is scared that it will be nothing

[arqueete]

New Year's Meme 2023

This is a survey reflecting on the year that I've been diligently filling out since Livejournal days. Anyone is welcome to take it for themselves.

1. What did you do in 2023 that you’d never done before?

I visited Italy! I went on a trip with my in-laws where we stayed in a rented house in Tuscany for a bit and then my husband and I spent a few days on our own in Venice.

I rode a water taxi in Venice.

I'm not 100% sure but I think I had actual tiramisu (as opposed to tiramisu-flavored things) for the first time this year?

I got into very seriously and deliberately writing a romance novel.

I went rollerblading at Red Arrow Park in Milwaukee which only opened to roller skates for the first time this summer.

I saw Phantom of the Opera on Broadway (just before it closed.)

After making several recipes out of a Milk Bar cookbook, while we were in New York we got to actually get dessert at Milk Bar

I got this little display called a Tidbyt and I wrote an app for it that identifies airplanes that go past my apartment. (I also visited the observation lot at the airport for the first time because I'm a nerd.)

I went down to Chicago and visited a museum there by myself.

I got a Polaroid camera and took some photos with it.

I got food (biryani) from an Indian restaurant.

I went to beloved Milwaukee bar Bryant's and had a cocktail that was set on fire.

2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions and will you make more for next year?

In 2023, I wanted to be more regular in going to the pottery studio where I have a membership, and I did work on that for a while but then I started to slow down again. I don't seem to do well with hobbies where I have to drive somewhere to go do them. I'm hoping to do more pottery stuff at home next year.

I also wanted to throw away less food and use up leftover ingredients in better ways. Still working on this, but my husband and I have a list on our fridge now of stuff we have sitting around that we know needs to be used soon.

I also wanted to ride the bus a little more. I did a pretty good job of this, I think! I bussed to the beach, to a favorite bookshop, to the State Fair, and to the train station.

In 2024, here's what I'm going for:

I want to get this novel I'm writing to the point where I can get some people to beta read it.

I used to keep a budget but since I got married and my husband and I got a joint account, we haven't really figured out a good way to keep a budget together. I'd like to start budgeting again.

I want to read every book the bi book club I'm in has on its schedule for 2024. I also want to reread more books I already own.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? I went to a baby shower for one of my husband's cousins. I'm happy for them and their baby boy! 4. Did anyone close to you die? We lost one of my husband's best and oldest friends to suicide earlier this year. It's been rough, to be honest.

5. What countries did you visit? I went to Italy! Trying to learn some Italian from scratch stressed me out but I especially loved eating way too much gelato and walking around Venice. 6. What would you like to have in 2024 that you lacked in 2023? Last year I said I wanted closer relationships to people who live nearby, to invite people over more. We tried to do a bit of this. We had guests over for dinner a few times, including my husband's cousin who literally lives in our apartment building so it's a little embarrassing that we haven't seen him. Also, things have been ramping back up with the bisexual community group I'm a part of.

I would like to have less stress in 2024 though, you know, wouldn't we all? 7. What date from 2023 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? In trying to think of dates off the top of my head and my brain says, hmm, April 7th, the day I saw Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. I mean, that was a good and important day in my life. 8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Maybe writing multiple drafts of a novel. I've gotten past first drafts before but it's been years since I've been writing this much and this regularly and I've been enjoying it. 9. What was your biggest failure? After feeling like I was managing my anxiety really well in recent years I think this year it became more of a struggle for me again. 10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I'm very lucky to generally be a healthy person but this year I dealt with some things... In the spring my chronic hives did finally stop. But then I got Covid. Then I got a painful cyst on my ovary. Then I got the stomach flu.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Probably the Tidbyt. It's a cute little super low res screen that sits in my living room and tells me things like the sunrise/sunset times, the weather forecast, the nearest airplane, and the flavor of the day at Kopp's Frozen Custard. Even though it's a tech thing it's helping me appreciate the little things and I like that about it. 12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Sufjan Stevens definitely seemed to have a shitty year but it was nice to see him making progress in recovering from his illness and, you know, I'd like to celebrate the great album he put out.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? I already complained about Elon Musk in last year's survey but seeing Twitter fall apart has been depressing this year. 14. Where did most of your money go? Besides rent, probably to the Italy trip. 15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Airplanes! I got really into reading about commercial aviation this year and paying attention to the planes that pass by my apartment. 16. What song(s) will always remind you of 2023? We got a new Sufjan album, Javelin, in October and I listened to it a ton at that time.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: i. Happier or sadder? Sadder. ii. Older or wiser? Older. iii. Thinner or fatter? The same. iv. Richer or poorer? Richer. 18. What do you wish you’d done more of? I felt like I really didn't pay much attention to the news and world events this year. It seemed like everyone around me was outraged about one thing or another and I've just been tired and uninformed. I'm not proud of that. 19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Staying up late even when I knew I wouldn't get enough sleep. 20. How will you be spending Christmas? I spent Christmas Eve with my family and then Christmas Day with my husband's family out in Madison.

21. How will you be spending New Year’s Eve? We have late dinner reservations and plan to hang around the restaurant bar until midnight.

22. Did you fall in love in 2023? I celebrated my first anniversary with my husband (went went to a nice new restaurant in the city called Lupi & Iris.) 23. How many one-night stands? None.

24. What was your favorite TV program? I loved the new seasons of What We Do In the Shadows and The Bear.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? I like to read snark pages about fundamentalist Christian influencers and I've loved to hate Girl Defined and watching them just kind of spiral out of control this year. 26. What was the best book you read? I read a lot this year (I finished 18 books!) and I started a Goodreads account if anyone wants to be my reading buddy. Probably the best book I read this year in terms of quality was Educated by Tara Westover which is well-known and highly rated for good reason.

In terms of books that are not impressive in a literary way but made me feel totally rabid in a fandom way, I recently finished With Love, From Cold World and bought a copy just so I can reread it some time next year. 27. What was your greatest musical discovery? I discovered Jose Gonzalez this year and he was really scratching an itch for me while waiting for a new Sufjan album. His song "Heartbeats" was on my Spotify Wrapped top songs.

28. What did you want and get? I wanted an inflatable Lapras so bad and in previous years they kept selling out before I could buy one but this summer I got one! I got the Lapras!!! I rode it out on the lake!

29. What did you want and not get? There were three different times that people were supposed to come visit us this year and it didn't happen. My husband's friend was supposed to stay with us and he passed before that happened. One of my husband's cousins was supposed to visit and then we got Covid and had to cancel. Then another one of my husband's cousins was supposed to visit and my husband had to go out of state for a relative's funeral and we canceled that, too. These are the sorts of things that added up to the year feeling like there were hard times around every corner, even though we had a lot to be grateful for. 30. What was your favorite film of this year? I saw a surprising amount of movies in theaters this year! I think Barbie was the most memorable (also, the theater I saw it in, The Downer Theatre, has since shut down so I will also remember it for that.)

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 33. My husband and I got lunch at an Italian restaurant and then saw the matinee of Skylight Music Theater's production of School of Rock, which I did enjoy even though mostly it just made the both of us want to rewatch the movie.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Maybe not getting Covid. 33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2023? I'm loving flannel shirts and sweater dresses this fall/winter. In the summer I was wearing a lot of dresses, too. I've gotten into tucking shirts into shorts or jeans. 34. What kept you sane? All the reading and writing I've been doing has helped me feel productive and grounded. 35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Maybe Ayo Edebiri on The Bear. 36. What political issue stirred you the most? Climate change felt relentless and inevitable this year, especially with the wildfire smoke we dealt with over the summer and the mild winter so far. 37. Who did you miss? I don't go on Twitter anymore and that's generally good for me, but there were some interesting people I followed on there where I'm like huh, wonder what they're up to now (but not enough to go back on Twitter and find out.) 38. Who was the best new person you met? My team at work went through a lot of changes this year and I always get nervous about new people getting hired (like, what if they're assholes?) Fortunately everyone who joined our team has been really nice and I'm grateful. 39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2023: This year I found a lot of freedom in taking a Marie Kondo-esque approach to my physical surroundings and just throwing shit out if I don't use it and it doesn't have active sentimental value to me. At the same time, this year I stopped being so hard on myself for buying things like coffee shop drinks all the time. So I guess generally the lesson is about recalibrating my idea of what is valuable to me to reflect what I actually enjoy day-to-day more than what I think I'm "supposed to" keep around or spend money on.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

He said that nothing lives long, only the earth and the mountains As he quoted Black Kettle's death song The words drifting off into the emptiness Of this great land where we’ve never belonged

Death Cab For Cutie - "Foxglove Through the Clearcut"

[nimueth]

I was tagged by @zet-sway!

Rules: Tag nine people you want to get to know better.

Favorite Color(s): Red, plum, and teal Currently Reading: I read the newest chapter of @/yennas No Place for Lovers a few mornings ago. Funny anecdote: I actually read it on Tumblr through a reblog, where it was rated E. For some reason, when I'm not on Ao3, my mind defaults to "E is for Everyone" even when I already know the fic is explicit, so in my half awake state I was not expecting it to get spicy. Best surprise on a lazy Sunday morning! XD Last Song: "Hummingbird" by Nilu Last Movie: The Tomorrow War Last Series: Fear the Walking Dead Sweet, Savory, or Spicy? I have an awful sweet tooth... Craving: Sushi! Tea or Coffee: Eh, neither. I do drink coffee with milk in the morning, if that counts, but pure coffee is just gross to me. Tea tastes like slightly flavoured water, and often it's not even a pleasant kind of flavor. Currently Working On: Headshots of Thane and Garrus that I was gonna call "portraits of men who are definitely Not Heroes". Ya know, in response to the Batman thing. Would have been funnier if I'd posted it when it was still trending, but alas, I'm one slow drawer. :(

I started using Tumblr again very recently, so I don't think I have nine mutuals. Let's see. I tag @lizkay @theluckybard @starsandskies @sakkto @bargu @armaina. Only if you wanna, no obligation!

[cabinpressurechallenge]

Hello everyone, welcome to the announcement post for the great annual Cabin Pressure Listenalong 2021! I’m sorry this is a little later than I wanted to post it, but hopefully plenty of you can still join in!

If you’re new to the idea of this, first of all welcome! The whole point is to listen to one episode of Cabin Pressure a day, starting with Abu Dhabi on November 29th and ending with Zurich on it’s traditional anniversary of December 24th. This is a completely low-pressure event, so please feel free to join with as much or as little as you want!

The plan is to make a post every day with various prompts (which will be listed below the cut for anyone really organised who wants to make a headstart!), including an episode themed prompt, a quote prompt, and a discussion question. I am also planning to dedicate the week beginning December 6th to our beloved Princess Theresa as a joint thing with @projecttheresa , so look out for that!

Finally, the listenalong itself – from the information gathered in the survey, I think it’s best to hold this at 21:00ish GMT every day. I personally won’t be available to press go on this every week, but I suggest that in order to listen together most effectively, we make use of the discord channel. Please contact me on @sircarolyn for the link to this if you don’t have it and you want it! And of course, if you don’t want to use discord, then any and all reaction posts here are more than encouraged too!

Please feel free to send a message if you have any questions!

Below are all the prompts! I’m going to post these every day, so no need to read them now if you don’t want to, but if you do, off you go! All quotes from series 1-3 of John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme (and I am indebted to the transcripts on the JFSP livejournal).

 -

29th Abu Dhabi

a missing scene: The run up to Carolyn calling Martin a berk

a quote: “For the love of God, won’t someone stop the tram! Thank you!”

a question: Who is your favourite character?

30th Boston

a   missing scene: Douglas’ conversation with ATC

a quote: “And just like that, the conversation died. Died? No. Murdered!”

 a question: What’s your favourite Arthur moment?

December 1st Cremona

a missing scene: Arthur and Martin in the Garibaldi

a quote: “Hello, one of the cosily wry women, which is all of them, except two.”

a question: What’s your favourite Douglas moment?

2nd Douz

a missing scene: Douglas and the cricketers

a quote: “The weather is unusually hot for February, but then of course it is July.”

a question: What’s your favourite Carolyn moment?

3rd Edinburgh

a missing scene: Martin giving Mr Birling the hat

a quote: “I’ve had an idea and because I’ve had it, I will do it because that’s what I’m like.”

a question: What’s your favourite Martin moment?

4th Fitton

a     missing scene: Arthur and Douglas in the flight deck

a quote: “One:     be kind. Two: have fun.”

a     question: What’s your favourite episode?

5th Gdansk

a missing scene: Previous games of itemised lists

a quote: “Don’t press the button on the light blue bollard.”

a question: What’s your favourite word game?

THERESA WEEK!

6th Helsinki

a  missing scene: Arthur’s holiday scheming

a quote: “I keep telling you: we do the crime first and the cover-up after. It just doesn't work this way around.”

a question: Which is your favourite series?

Theresa week bonus: castle, mountain, snow

7th Ipswich

a missing scene: Martin and Douglas revising 

a quote: “Write to us on the usual address or phone out letter line or e-mail us or post an entry to our blog or just stick your head out of the windows and shout.”

a question: Who’s your favourite minor character?

Theresa week bonus: dragon, sheep, penguin

8th Johannesburg

a  missing scene: Arthur and Martin’s golf buggy conversations

a quote: “I'm sorry, I really can't do anything else until I've looked furious with a straw hat on”

a question: Who is your favourite friendship?

Theresa week bonus: gold, charcoal, tin

9th Kuala Lumpur

a missing scene: Arthur rehearsing his story for Martin

a quote: “Would the answer to that be a sea lion in a little hat?”

a question: What’s your favourite ship?

Theresa week bonus: green, purple, white

10th Limerick

a missing scene: Carolyn and Arthur creating poetry

a quote: “I was having fun before, playing the game with my friend, and now it's not fun and my arm hurts.”

a question: What’s your favourite MJN family moment?

Theresa week bonus: crown, cap, stetson

11th Molokai

a missing scene: Christmas in Hawaii

a quote: “Was it his troubled mind, was it the December chill or was it the ghost of a lion standing on his chest?”

a question: What scene makes you laugh the most?

Theresa week bonus: blush, freckle, beard

12th Newcastle

a missing scene: Playing Trivial Pursuit

a quote: “Simple game theory would suggest that one of you should switch to blue.”

a question: What’s your favourite Herc moment?

Theresa week bonus: demon, van, truck

13th Ottery St Mary

a missing scene: Martin twisting his ankle

a quote: “I’d forgotten we were in a coffee shop. It was so loud when we came in, but now it’s almost silent.”

a question: What’s a scene you know by heart?

14th Paris

a missing scene: What’s Carolyn up to during all the nonsense?

a quote: “It doesn’t make it any more sensible just because you keep saying criss cross!”

a question: Which Birling Day is your favourite?

15th Qikiqtarjuaq

a missing scene: Arthur giving bear lectures

a quote: “If I want to have fun, I will have fun and I do want to have fun because fun is fun!”

a question: How did you get into Cabin Pressure? 

16th Rotterdam

a missing scene: Martin practicing his speech

a quote: “Do you know what? I don’t think there’s any ghosts in this story either”

a  question: What are your favourite Cabin Pressure fics?

17th St Petersburg

a missing scene: discussing the plan

a quote: “He sends greeting curses and anti-hellos!”

a question: What’s a scene that makes you cry?

18th Timbuktu

a missing scene: Arthur’s preparations for Birling Day

a quote: “I have this hazy but important feeling you should be repeating something”

a question: What’s your favourite piece of CP fanart?

19th Uskerty

a missing scene: Herc receiving the sheep

a quote: “Everybody loves my honey eating! It’s endearing, it’s comical”

a question: Do you like anything else by John Finnemore?

20th Vaduz

a missing scene: Carolyn and Theresa meeting

a quote: “If you stand on tippy-toes and look out the window, you can see a lorry!”

a question: What’s your favourite Theresa moment?

21st Wokingham

a missing scene: Arthur and Wendy’s adventures

a quote: “That is the noise of the TARDIS. and I am the man that makes it”

a question: What’s your favourite MJN family moment?

22nd Xinzhou

a missing scene: Stuck in the traffic jam

a quote: “The driver knows the train manager doesn’t mean that but it’s still very hurtful”

a question: What would your dream CP revival episode be?

23rd Yverdon les Bains

a missing scene: Martin telling Theresa he got the job

a quote: “As we’re nearly at the end of the episode, we must be due an incredibly minor cliffhanger…”

a question: Which part of CP do you find most relatable?

24th Zurich

a missing scene: OJS’ first flight

a quote: “And my proud boast, though I say it myself, is that even though you don’t know what he looks like, when you see my picture, you can tell it’s slightly off”

a question: What does CP mean to you?

[lovemesomesurveys]

What is your favorite game to play on your phone? I haven’t played any in awhile, but I like word games and murder mystery themed hidden object and puzzle games. What is the last thing you bought at the dollar store? I don’t remember. I rarely ever go there. Do you like getting caught in the rain? I don’t mind it if it’s for a brief time, like going to and from the car to somewhere and it’s not raining too hard haha, but I do quite enjoy the rain from inside. Who was the last person who was rude to you? *shrug* Do you have anyone you can really talk to? Yes.

What is your newest hobby? I don’t have any new ones. What is one way in which this year is different from last year? Some health related things have changed and not in a good way. Do you own a swimming pool? No. What is your favorite thing to do in a swimming pool? I don’t like to go swimming. How long can you tread water for? I also can’t swim. Anytime I’ve gone swimming I’ve had to use an inner tube/floaty and I always stuck by the edges of the pool cause I was too scared to venture out any further. I did like those small plastic pools for kids when I was little, though.   Do you feel like you have too much on your plate and your life is too hard? Yes. What color is your bicycle? I don’t have one. Do you know anyone who is colorblind? Not that I’m aware of, but it’s possible. What color are your bedsheets right now? They’re light blue with little Santa’s all over. What do you do when there are no new or good surveys on bzoink? Check out if anyone posted on here or go to LiveJournal.  Did you do anything you regret within the last 24 hours? No. What is your favorite day to go grocery shopping? I don’t care what day we go. Which stovetop burner do you use the most? I always use the front left one. Are you behind on chores? No.

How many months until your birthday? My birthday isn’t until July. I’m sooo not in a rush for my birthday or that time of year. Let me have my Christmas and wintertime.  Do you wish you had someone you could go to for support? I have that, fortunately. Would you follow God even if it meant losing your home, your source of food, all of your friends, or even your life? That’s the level of obedience I admit I need to work on. I need to figure out what God’s calling is for me. Who do you wish you were best friends with right now? I don’t want any friends right now to be honest.  Who's death has affected you the most? My maternal grandparents and my dog, Brandie. Do you have a youtube channel? I have a YouTube account. ^If yes, do your parents approve of it? They don’t care? I don’t upload any videos, but even if I did I’m 32 years old, sooo. Have you made any huge mistakes? I’ve made several. Do you think everyone has made huge mistakes? I think everyone makes mistakes of varying degrees. Name one perfect person you know. No one is perfect.

What was the last thing you ate? Ramen. Have you ever grown sunflowers? No. What was the last thing you bought at the Farmer's Market? I don’t go to Farmer’s Markets. Do you know what you are going to wear for the 4th of July? I wouldn’t wear anything different or particular from what I wear everyday. Do you own a boat? No. Have you ever been in prison? Not as an inmate, but as a visitor. Are you scared to stand up to a police officer? Yeah, I would be. Do you have a dreamcatcher in your room? No. Have you downloaded unique fonts for your computer? No. What was the last thing you played on your phone? It was a murder mystery game. What's one item on your wish list right now? Well, on my Christmas list I have clothing items, some Gilmore Girls stuff from Etsy, new phone case, and some coloring books. What is your doctor's first name? I’m not sharing any of my doctor’s names.

[ratthrash]

hey remember back on livejournal in the early 2000's what we called "memes," but i guess would now more rightly be called surveys? just those huge lists of questions you would answer for no reason? what do the kids call those now/do they even exist anymore? asking for an old person

[purplesurveys]

1290

1. Do you like Ferrero Rocher chocolate? Yes. I mean it’s not the best-tasting chocolate out there but for some reason I also can’t stop having them once I’ve started? Hahaha. Pretty expensive though and I wouldn’t typically buy a pack for myself.

2. What’s the most expensive thing your car needed to get done? Technically it would be to fix up the dent when I got rear-ended a few years ago, but we never booked an appointment for that...which has its unique advantages, I guess - like how my friends don’t have to have a hard time spotting my car because the big ass dent gives me away anyway HAHAHA.

3. If you had a thousand dollars to spend on a pricey brand you like but can’t really afford (until now of course), which ONE brand would you chose? Probably the classic white Gucci sneakers with the green and red stripes. I’ve always thought they look nice.

4. Do you still own any clothes you had in middle school? Like what? I’m sure I do. The second shelf of my closet has all my old stuff.

5. Do you like candy canes? It’s fine to have once I’ve had a full meal, but it’s never been something I’ve craved even during Christmas.

6. What genre was the last movie you saw? And was it any good? Romance, drama, a hint of fantasy. 

7. Do you think George Clooney was hot when he was younger? Sure. I mean he still is now, so.

8. …what about now? ^

9. How many pairs of flip flops do you own? A couple.

10. How old were you when you got your first Tumblr/LJ? I had a LiveJournal when I was around 10, back when I imagined an online diary for myself; I ultimately failed to update it regularly. I made my first Tumblr when I was 12, but didn’t start a survey blog until I was around 14 or 15.

11. Remember Teen Ink? Did you ever submit anything to them? I’ve never heard of this. Is this a show about teenagers getting tattoos? Hahaha just a wild guess.

12. Do you still talk to any of your old teachers? I’m friends with some of them on Facebook but we never talk. As for the rest of my teachers I don’t wish to keep in touch with any of them.

3. Do you have Twitter? What do you mostly use it for? Yeah, a personal and a stan account. My personal is to let me ramble on just about anything going on in my life, and also to keep in touch with my friends and to catch up with current news and issues. My stan account is obviously to keep updated on BTS stuff.

14. What color is your cell phone? Black.

15. How many cell phones have you had in your lifetime? If I’m counting correctly, 7.

16. Does your family still use the home phone or are you all on cell phones now? We keep the landline for our older relatives who prefer talking that way. But yeah, we all have our own cellphones as well.

17. How old were you when you got your first cell phone? It was a gift to me for my 7th birthday. I didn’t need one but everyone in school started getting their own phones at like 6 or 7 so I asked my parents if I could have one as well lmao. Peer pressure is a bitch.

18. Enough with the phones. When is/was your 21st birthday? It happened in 2019.

19. What color was the dress you wore to your senior prom? It was a creamish, beige-ish color. 

20. Ever go to another school’s prom? Sure. They called it a ball but let’s just count it under prom.

21. Ever take melatonin supplements to help you go to sleep? No, I’m a bit wary of trying out an unfamiliar medication. I don’t have trouble falling asleep anyway.

22. Do you like burning candles or incense? Candles yes, incence is way too strong for me. < Same. Candles are super satisfying and relaxing to smell, though.

23. Do you like doing laundry? I haven’t tried. I feel like I’d hate it given how I dislike touching dirty or used clothes (even mine), but I guess I’ll never really know until I give it a shot.

24. Ever throw a pair of your shoes in the washing machine? How did they come out? Nope. My mom occasionally cleans our shoes but I’m not sure if she did so by putting them in the washing machine.

25. Do you own a real pair of Uggs? No, they’re not available here.

26. Do you ever venture into the woods? What do you normally do in there? No; we don’t have any nearby haha.

27. Favorite pizza toppings? Barbecue sauce and chicken, bell peppers, onions.

28. Favorite salad dressing? Spicy mayo.

29. What’s the most you’d spend on a new pair of jeans? Maybe a little over a couple thousand bucks at most. I feel like ₱3000 is starting to get too unfair hahaha.

30. Do you like to wear shorts or capris in the summer? It’s better than sweating in jeans and growing cranky, so yes.

31. What do you think of Bermuda shorts? I’ve never worn them and I don’t own a pair, so I don’t have strong opinions.

32. What does your bathing suit look like this year? I haven’t gotten anything new; I didn’t go out swimming this year and don’t have plans to for the remaining months anyway.

33. Are you ready for summer 2018? I spent that particular period interning, since it was a school requirement to take up an internship during that summer lol. But it was fun! I don’t like how they barely made me do work but it had been a cool experience that taught me a thing or two about living independently.

34. Did you ever use iconator.com? Are you upset that it’s gone now? Never used it.

35. Speaking of AIM icons… do you still use AIM? No.

36. Do you still buy CDs? Yeah, only for BTS.

37. Be honest…how much of the music in your iTunes library did you actually pay for? I never paid for anything on iTunes. Converting YouTube videos to MP4, uploading them on iTunes, and then manually adding the album art and correct titles was the way to go hahaha.

38. Does your significant other ever make you mixed CDs? My ex never made me mixed CDs but she made a couple of playlists dedicated to me. I remember seeing the playlists still up on her profile last January but I really hope she got rid of them now lmao.

39. How often do you have to empty your text inbox because it got full? I’ve never emptied any inboxes of mine. I’ve deleted threads, but I’ve never cleared out the whole thing.

40. Does your phone have a keyboard, touch screen, or neither? It has a touchscreen.

41. How did you dress your freshman year of high school? I didn’t have my own style that early so I just wore whatever basic t-shirt and jeans I had in my closet, which had been mostly gifts. I didn’t really start experimenting until I was in college.

42. What religion are you? Atheist.

43. What color are the pajama pants you wore last? Sky blue but I neeeeeeever wear pajamas. I haven’t worn that pair I mentioned in years.

44. Were you obsessed with the Spice Girls back in the day? No, not my generation haha.

45. What does your wallet look like? It’s pastel pink with a silver accent in the middle.

46. Is your middle name embarrassing? No.

47. How many Facebook friends do you have? Do you add people you don’t know sometimes? Over 670 the last time I checked. I never add people who aren’t the least bit familiar to me.

48. Do you like pumpkin pie? I haven’t tried but I’m open to!

49. What’s your favorite kind of yogurt? Eh, not really a fan of yogurt.

50. Do you like frozen yogurt? No.

[creativitycache]

ngl asking for people who self-identify as "antis" is already biasing your results because the term originated from fans being defensive over getting called out (eg the types who sincerely think fandom culture is ""puritan""). fair number of people started to use the term ironically and it might be evening out but overall the post calling for responses on the survey still comes off as something written in bad faith?

I wrote a rather long and involved response and then tumblr ate it. Goshdarn.

Fair warning, this is a hyperfixation and I’m coming off of a migraine so this may not be very cogent. Please read this in the over excited tones of someone infodumping about emulsifiers, with no animosity intended.

So, tl;dr and with a lot fewer links, I’m incredibly interested by your perspective that “anti” originated as a derogatory term.

As far as I am aware, the etymological history of the word “anti” being used pejoratively is coming from some very new debates.

I’m also noting that you had no feedback regarding the content of the questions themselves, which I would be interested in hearing as I am genuinely coming from a place without censure.

The term “anti” actually is a self-descriptor that arose in the Livejournal days, where you’d tag something as “Anti ___” for other like minded people to find. (For example, my cursory google search pulled up 10 Anti Amy Lee communities on LJ).

I’m a self-confessed old. I was back in fandom before Livejournal, aaaall the way back in the Angelfire days. Webrings children! We had webrings! And guest books for you to sign!

I’m going to take a swing for the fences here Anon, so if I’m wrong please let me know, but I’m going to guess you became active as a fan in the past 5-8 years based of your use of the term puritan.

There’s actually a HUGELY new debate in fandom spaces! Previously, it was assumed that:

a) All fandom spaces are created and used by adults only.

b) If you were seeing something, it’s because you dug for it.

These assumptions were predicated upon what spaces fandoms grew in. First you had Star Trek TOS fandom, which grew in 1970s housewives kitchens. They were all friends irl, and everyone was an adult, and you actively had to reach out to other adults to talk about things. (By the way- a woman lost custody of her children in the divorce when her ex husband brought up to the judge she kept a Kirk/Spock zine under her bed. The judge ruled this as obvious signs of moral deficiency. That was in the 80s! Everyone is still alive and the parents are younger than my coworkers!)

Time: 1967-1980s. Is Anti a term? No. Who is the term used by? N/A Is fandom space considered Puritanical? No.

Then, when the internet came about, it was almost exclusively used by adults until The Eternal September. 1993 was the year that changed the internet for good, but even years after that the internet was a majority adult space. Most kids and teens didn’t have unlimited access if their parents even had a home computer in the 90s.

This is the rise of Angelfire, which were fansites all connected to each other in “rings”. You had to hunt for content. If you found something you didn’t like, well, you clicked out and went on with your day because you’d never see it again unless you really dug. This was truly the wild west, tagging did not exist and you could go from fluff to vore in the blink of an eye with nothing warning you before hand. All fannish spaces were marked “here be dragons” and attempts were made to at least adopt the “R/NC-17″ ratings on works to some limited success, depending on webmaster.

Time: 1990-1999. Is Anti a term? No. Who is the term used by? N/A Is fandom space considered Puritanical? No.

In 1999 LiveJournal arose like a leviathan, and here is where the term Anti emerges as a self descriptor. Larger communities began to form, and with them, divisions. Now, you could reach so many fans you could reach a critical mass of them for enough of them to dislike a ship. The phrase “Anti” became a self-used tag, as people tagged their works, communities, and blogs with “anti” (NB: this is at far, far smaller rates than today). Anti was first and foremost a tagging tool used and created by the people who were vehemently against something.

You could find content more easily than in the past, but you still had to put some serious elbow grease into it.

In 2007, Livejournal bans users for art "depicting minors in explicit sexual situations”. The Livejournal community explodes in anger- towards Livejournal staff. The account holders/fans view this as corporate puritanical meddling. The outrage continues as it is revealed these bans were part of a pre-sale operation to SUP Services. SUP Services, upon taking over Livejournal in 2008, proceeds to filter the topics “bisexuality, depression, faeries, girls, boys, and fanfiction”.

The Great LiveJournal Migration begins, as fans leave the site in droves.

Time: 1999-2009. Is Anti a term? Yes. Who is the term used by? People self describing, seeking to create communities based off a dislike of something. Is fandom space considered Puritanical? No.

Where do fans go? Well, in the last decade, they migrated to Tumblr and Twitter (sorry Pillowfort- you gave it a good try!)

What’s different about all of these sites? Individuals are able to create and access content streams. These are hugely impactful in how communities are formed! Because now:

a) finding content is easier

b) finding content you dislike by accident is easier

c) content you dislike requires active curation to avoid

d) truly anonymous outreach is possible and easy (for example, you anon! Isn’t it much easier to go on anon to bring up awkward or sensitive topics? I’m happy you did by the way, and that’s why I keep my anons open. It’s an important contextual tool in the online communications world!)

Now the term Anti gets sprightly. Previously, if you didn’t like content, there was nothing you could really do about it. For example, I, at the tender age of way-too-young, opened up a page of my favorite Star Trek Deep Space 9 fansite and pixel by pixel with all the loading speed of a stoned turtle a very anatomically incorrect orgy appeared.

I backed out.

1. Who could I contact? There was no “message me here” button, no way to summon any mods on Angelfire sites.

2. If I did manage to find a contact button, I would have had to admit I went onto a site that wasn’t designed to keep me safe. I knew this was a site for adults, I knew there wasn’t a way to stop it from showing something. There was no such thing as tags. I knew all of this before going in. So the assumption was, it was on me for looking. (Some may have argued it was on my parents for not supervising me- all I can say is thank GOD no one else was in the living room and my mom was around the corner in the kitchen.)

But now? On Tumblr? On Twitter? In a decade in which tagging is so easy and ubiquitous it’s expected?

Now people who describe themselves as antis start to have actual tools and social conventions to utilize.

Which leads to immediate backlash! Content creators are confused and upset- fandom spaces have been the wild west for decades, and there’s still no sherriff in town. So the immediate go-to argument is that these people who are messaging them are “puritans”.

And that’s actually an interesting argument! A huge factor in shaping the internet’s social mores in the latest decades is cleanliness for stockbrokers. Websites can become toxic to investors and to sales if they contain sexual content. Over time, corporations perfected a mechanism for “cleaning” a site for sale.

Please note there is no personal opinion or judgement in this next list, it is simply a description of corporate strategies you can read during the minute meetings of shareholders for Tumblr, Twitter, Paypal, Venmo, Facebook, Myspace, Yahoo Answers, and Livejournal.

1. Remove sex workers. Ban any sex work of any kind, deplatform, keep any money you may have been holding.

2. Remove pedophilia. This is where the jump begins between content depicting real people vs content depicting fictional characters begins.

3. Remove all sexual image content, including artwork of fictional characters.

4. Remove all sexual content, including written works. If needed, loop back to step 2 as a justification, and claim you do not have the moderators to prevent written works depicting children.

I would like to reiterate these are actual gameplans, so much so that they’ve made their way into business textbooks. (Or at least they did for my Modern Marketing & App Design classes back in the early 2010s. Venmo, of course, wasn’t mentioned, but I did read the shareholder’s speeches when they banned sex workers from the platform so I added them in the list above because it seems they’re following the same pattern.)

So you have two groups who are actively seeking to remove NSFW content from the site.

A) Corporate shareholders

B) People are upset they’re seeing NSFW content they didn’t seek out and squicks them

Now, why does this matter for the debates using the term “puritan” as an insult? 

Because the reasons corporate shareholders hate NSFW material is founded in American puritanism. It’s a really interesting conflation of private sector values! And if Wall Street were in another cultural context, it would be a completely different discussion which I find fascinating!

But here’s the rub- that second group? They're not doing this for money. If there are any puritanical drives, it’s personal, not a widespread cohesive ideology driving them. HOWEVER! The section of that group that spent the early 2010s on tumblr did pick up some of the same rhetoric as puritanical talking points (which is an entirely separate discussion involving radfems, 4chan raids, fourth wave feminism, and a huge very nuanced set of influences I would love to talk about at a later time!)

These are largely fans who have “grown up” in the modern sites- no matter how old they actually are, their fandom habits and expectations have been shaped by the algorithms of these modern sites.

Now HERE‘s the fascinating bit that’s new to me! This is the interpretation of the data I’m getting, and so I’m out on a limb but I think this is a valid premise!

The major conflict in fandom at this time is a struggle over personal space online.

Content creators are getting messages telling them to stop, degrading them, following them from platform to platform.

They say “Hey! What gives- we were here first. The cardinal rule of fandom is don’t like, don’t read. Fandom space has always been understood to be adult- it’s been this way for decades! To find our content, you had to come to us! This is our space! This is my space, this is my blog! If you don’t like it, you’re not obligated to look!”

Meanwhile, at the exact same time, antis are saying “Hey! What gives- this content is appearing on my screen! That’s my space!  I didn’t agree to this, I don’t like this! I want it to be as far away from me as possible! I will actively drive it away.”

This is a major cultural shift! This is a huge change and a huge source of friction! And I directly credit it to the concept of “content stream” and algorithms driving similar-content to users despite them not wanting it!

Curating your online space used to be much simpler, because there wasn’t much of it! Now with millions of users spread out over a wide age range, all feeding in to the same 4-5 websites, we are seeing people be cramped in a technically limitless space!

Now people feel that they have to go on the offense to defend themselves against content they don’t like, which is predicated upon not only the algorithms of modern websites but ALSO talking points fed from the top down of what is and what is not acceptable on various platforms.

Time: 2010-2020. Is Anti a term? Yes. Who is the term used by? People self describing,and people using it to describe others. Is fandom space considered Puritanical? Depends!

So I, a fandom ancient, a creaky thing of old HTML codes and broken tags, am watching this transformation and am wildly curious for data.

Also...I uh....I can’t believe this is the short version. My ADHD is how you say “buckwild” tonight.

Anyways...um...if anyone has read to the bottom, give me data?

[eldritchsurveys]

1131.

1 - Were you glad to see the back of 2020? What were the best and worst parts of the year to you? >> I honestly did not care one way or the other. I understand why the ritualistic “good riddance to 2020″ thing works for people, it just doesn’t work for me. In my mind, it really doesn’t matter if it’s 2020 or 2021, just as long as it ain’t fuckin, say, 2009.

2 - If you’ve purchased something you love from a small business, are you likely to leave a review or anything afterwards? Why/why not? >> Yeah, like I just bought a bracelet from an Etsy seller and I left a happy review because I love the product. I never really thought about leaving reviews in the past, but it recently occurred to me that I should probably start doing it for independent sellers like that. This particular seller only had one or two other reviews aside from mine, so you know, it really makes a difference.

3 - When was the last time you received some good news? >> Well, seeing the pending stimulus deposit was good news. It is just enough to pay off the rest of what I owe on my computer, which means I do not have to worry about that anymore. I consider that a great relief, tbh; that $150/mo was no joke.

4 - Does wearing masks cause you to get acne or oily skin on your chin and around your nose? >> Nah. I’d probably have to wear them for much longer periods of time than I usually do for that to start happening.

5 - Do you prefer dogs or cats? Do you have a preferred breed as well? >> Dogs. Pitbulls are my fave breed.

6 - Do you have any plans for the next few days? Are these plans something you’re dreading or looking forward to? >> Mostly I just plan to enjoy having my normal routine back once Sparrow goes back to work (well, until Thursday, because now she’s going to be working from home every Thursday...).

7 - Leggings, jeans, jeggings or sweatpants? >> Sweatpants.

8 - How often do you meet new people? Is this something you’d like to change in any way? >> Not often at all, especially now. I don’t think it needs to be changed right now.

9 - What time did you wake up this morning? Would you rather have slept in longer? >> For the final time, around eight or so. I’m currently in a sleep deficit so I probably could have slept in longer, but I don’t like sleeping in. Maybe I’ll take a nap at some point, maybe not.

10 - What’s your favourite meal of the day? What’s your favourite thing to eat for that meal? >> I guess breakfast, since that’s my most stable and predictable meal most of the time. I almost always have a veggie burger and chips.

11 - When was the last time you visited a zoo or aquarium? What are your favourite animals to see there? >> I think the last time was Labor Day in 2019? The red pandas were pretty novel. I don’t think I have a favourite animal overall, though.

12 - Have you ever bought or sold anything via Facebook? >> No. This just reminded me to check on whether the Buy Nothing group in my city approved my membership, but apparently they did not, and that really confuses me, because... like, I live in the city. Why can’t I join the Buy Nothing group? This sort of thing is so distressing to me, I just... wanted to do a little community participation. :/ 

13 - When was the last time you had to cross a railway line? Was it an automated crossing or a manual one? >> I mean, we cross train tracks whenever we head downtown.

14 - What was the last thing you received as a gift? >> The gift from Sparrow’s parents that was late to arriving, which I got yesterday. It was a wine mulling kit.

15 - Are you a fan of cheese? What are your favourite types? >> I mean, I like cheese. I don’t know if I’d go so far to call myself a fan, though. I like pepper jack, brie, Kerrygold swiss, etc.

16 - What’s your “go-to” hairstyle when you’re feeling lazy or in a rush? >> ---

17 - How do you travel to work or school? Would you rather get there in a different way if you had the choice? >> ---

18 - What was the last activity you did that caused you to be out of breath? >> I don’t remember.

19 - When was the last time you changed your bedsheets? >> About a half hour ago, because they’d just been washed.

20 - What household chore do you hate the most? Are there any you actually enjoy or find satisfying in any way? >> Any “wet” chore -- so, most of the ones in the kitchen and all of the ones in the bathroom. I don’t mind vacuuming/sweeping, dusting, or laundry (I especially like the folding), and I love to tidy up and put things back where they belong.

21 - How much money did you spend the last time you went to the supermarket? >> I, personally, didn’t spend any, but the total grocery bill this weekend was about $170.

22 - How often do you buy fast food or takeaways? What’s your favourite place to get those foods from? >> Not often.

23 - Do you prefer white, brown or granary bread? What other types of bread do you like to eat? >> I’m not sure what granary bread is, but generally I’m not too precious about the type of bread. I’m far more precious about where the bread comes from (locally-made versus mass-produced).

24 - Are you in any kind of pain right now? What’s causing it? >> I wouldn’t say that. I mean, being tired and melancholy can be a bit painful at times, but... yeah.

25 - Can you hear anyone else in your house right now? What are they up to? >> Sparrow is having a shower. IDK what the cat is doing.

26 - Do you find farts funny or gross? >> Neither? They’re completely unremarkable to me, unless someone’s farting a tune or something, which I guess is novel enough.

27 - What are you wearing at the moment? Is anything you’re wearing new? >> Sweats, undershirt, hoodie. My winter uniform. Nothing I’m wearing is new.

28 - Who was the last person you spoke to via social media? Is this a person you’re close to? >> I don’t remember.

29 - Did you ever do surveys on a site other than Tumblr? Do you still take surveys anywhere else? >> Yeah, I was on Xanga for a long time. I had a brief fling with LiveJournal after Xanga went the way it did but ultimately settled on just posting them here.

30 - Are you overweight, underweight or a healthy weight for your height? Are you happy with that or would you like to change it? >> I don’t know which one I am and I’d rather not make a fuss about it.

[spnfanficpond]

July 2019 Pond LiveChat Recap

We had a great time chatting with @crispychrissy today! Thank you so much, Chrissy, for joining us!

This month, to make up for not having a chat in June, we chatted for two hours about some issues related to posting your works on Tumblr. Chrissy talked to us about making our own gifs, we discussed giving credit to gifmakers, how to make a Keep Reading cut, and much more!! A rundown of the chat, as well as general Pond news, is below the cut!

[Editor’s Note: For ease of understanding, the tags you put at the bottom of a post with a # will be called #hash-tags, while the tags you use to notify another Tumblr user that you’ve posted something will be called @mention-tags.]

Q: What programs do you use to make gifs? Are they free, or do you have to buy them?

Chrissy: Well, there is a free one I used back when I started called GifCam. It's easy to set up (it's just an exe) and there's a little learning curve, but it's easier than what I do now. I currently use a screen capture program that came with my $1500 graphics card along with Sony Vegas. If anyone wants GifCam, I can send it to them.

Q: And are you watching via Netflix or some other way?

C: Yes, I use Netflix. I have the first 6 seasons on DVD along with 12 and 13, so for bloopers and deleted scenes I have to use the DVD's. For current episodes, I have YouTube TV, and use the screen capture option with that. Tumblr has a 3MB limit on file size, so it’s really hard. The amount of frames you can fit in a sub-3MB gif depend on so many factors. Colors in the scene, movement, FPS (frames per second), and length. A low FPS gif looks pretty choppy, while a high FPS gif is smooth as butter.

Q: So that's why some gifs seem to go on forever, and others are quick things.

C: Yes. I can make a really long gif of something that's really really tiny, but if you want it to fit into the pixels of a Tumblr post, it limits how long they can be.

Q: And I guess that's also why some gifs I find from Google and try to put into a post won't animate right. If they're too big, I guess Tumblr stops them?

C: Yes. Tumblr just freezes the image instead of animating it. When you save it, check the file size.

C: So this is an example of the brightness and colors of a gif affecting the size. Since there's so much brightness and color, the more the gif has to render, meaning the bigger the size. This worked out to be only 35 frames, which is like... really small, but the gif itself came out to be 2.83 MB.

Q: Are websites that come up when I Google "gif maker" worth my time and effort?

C: Only if you don't mind a stupid watermark from the company.

Q: About giving credit to gifmakers....any thoughts?

C: Well, all my gifs have "cc" in the bottom right corner, that's how I give myself credit if they're used. Not everyone knows the "cc" gifs are mine, but I do. I offer my gif making services to anyone if they need a specific gif made for a story or otherwise, not limited to SPN. I've made porn gifs, ones from YouTube, and from other shows. If it exists, I can gif it. Tumblr's search feature is... well, it's not perfect, but it'll help give you a quick gif and give credit to the author. When someone uses a gif I've posted, it gives me a notification, which is awesome, but annoying if it gets reposted a crap ton. It also links the person back to the original post and who posted it.

Q: Some folks seem to think that if they grab a gif from Google, just saying they found it on Google is giving credit. I know this isn't the case. (I mistakenly thought that pasting the link to the image would allow folks to click through to where I found it, but discovered last night that's not the case.) If I found a gif on Google that was yours and used it, and provided a link to the page where Google found it, would that be enough, do you think?

C: Sometimes a reverse image search can be helpful, but it mostly doesn't work with gifs. That would be fine for me. Like I said, I have "cc" in the corner so that's me marking the gif as one of mine. I can't control where someone reposts them or uses them. There's a difference between reposting it to a site like Pinterest or using my gif on a LiveJournal post and saving it and reuploading it like it's yours and without giving me credit. One is malicious, the other isn't. I have a problem with the latter.

Q: I started looking at where Google finds gifs last night, and noticed that sites like gfycat have whole pages of gifs, and just citing that page might not be enough. (And trying to find where Google found them many times leads to a Tumblr blog that’s now gone.)

C: Google finds gifs all over the place. Someone can take my gif from Tumblr and reupload it to a bunch of different websites, all which would show up in a Google search. It's hard to find the original poster when it happens. Yeah, people delete their pages, but the gif stays. If you get to that point, just say, “Gif found on Google, unable to find original post"

Q: Speaking of finding gifs, how does the search function work on Tumblr? Is it just whatever the post was tagged with or the first 5 tags like regular searches or something else entirely?

After some discussion, we all decided that the gif search uses whatever #hash-tags are on a post where a gif is used, and then makes that gif searchable by that #hash-tag. So, if you make a post about chronic pain and use a gif of the Winchesters hugging, that gif will then show up in the gif search under #chronic pain. Also, popularity of the gif ensures it shows up at the top of the search. As people stop using a gif, it eventually falls out of the search results.

Q: Going back to file sizes...Do the dimensions of the source video (like watching Netflix/YouTube in full screen vs in a smaller window) impact the size of the gif, specifically with GifCam?

C: Now, that's a HUGE reason why I switched the way I make gifs. Netflix has a set streaming rate, which is only optimized at full screen. So the smaller you make the window to get it to fit into the size of the gif, the more degraded the image is. (Some confusion was expressed, so she continued to explain it further.) Netflix likes to run as big as possible. It wants as many pixels it can get to show you an image. If you minimize the window, it kind of freaks out and has to quickly scramble to make everything smaller so the video keeps playing. It does that by squishing everything down, making the image look weird. It might not be too noticeable when you look at it, but when you make gifs, they're gonna come out lookin all wonky.

Q: So, you have to make the Netflix window smaller in order to capture the images with the gif-making software? The gif-making software can't capture full screen?

C: GifCam will record the gif based on the window size. You gotta squish the window down to make it a reasonable size to fit on Tumblr. Other programs, which you might have to pay for, might be able to capture full screen and do the squishing for you. (Side note: during this discussion, Chrissy gave us some examples, and in showing them to us, revealed that a good gif size for Tumblr is around 410-430 wide, 230-250 high.)

After that, we moved on to other topics that had been brought up in the Pond survey a while back. 

How to make a Keep Reading cut and when you should use it.

Note: Although this worked for one person on the app, it doesn’t seem to work for all, and we’re not sure why. There are too many variables to determine the root cause for why it doesn’t always work. 

Q: "When should I give someone credit for being a beta (for example: I bounced ideas with someone for a minute or two but they didn’t technically beta read it; I can’t decide between X and Y (with no context), pick one)"

A: Always mention anyone who helped you. You don’t have to say they beta-read your story, but at least mention that they helped, even if they didn’t know it! Gratitude is always a good thing!! Writing takes a village, and being thankful for help is courteous, kind, caring, and helps you to make friends that will be the same right back to you.

How do I add my masterlist for my blog description?

Note: Chrissy pointed out that if you change your bio by hitting “edit appearance” instead of “edit theme” the link will break, so be careful where you add this! These things and more can be found in the Pond FAQ list!!

Q: The facts on search issues (re: links, tags, and anything else that keeps a fic from being “searchable”)

A: A lot of testing and research went into trying to figure this out, and we still probably don’t have it all figured out, but we learned some interesting things!

Most importantly, since we have a lot of smut writers, if you use the #hash-tag #NSFW on your post, your post will NOT show up in any searches!!

Adding an external link should not cause your post to be unsearchable, but that’s not guaranteed. According to Tumblr’s own help pages, “some links may cause posts to be hidden from recent search results.” Since spambots use external links in their posts, this will always be something that could possibly interfere with your post being searchable.

According to Tumblr: “Blogs that have been either self-flagged or flagged by us as “explicit” per our old policy (before December 17, 2018), will not show up in search. Users under 18 are still not allowed to click through to see the content of these blogs. If you think your blog has been erroneously marked as explicit, you can file an appeal by following these instructions.”

When you are searching for your post, make sure you are looking at Most Recent posts, not Most Popular! 

Some things to know about searching:

There are two ways to search a blog. If you use the search box at the top, then your results will have a URL like this:  https://spnfanficpond.tumblr.com/search/big-fish-chat

However, that is not the only way you can search your blog. If you look at a post, and click on one of the tags on that post, your results will have a URL like this: https://spnfanficpond.tumblr.com/tagged/big-fish-chat

The first search will look through all of the text in a post to find the words you’re searching for. The second search will only look for posts with that specific tag. If a blog doesn’t have a search box in its theme, you can type these searches in manually, and they will still work.

You can also do these searches manually through all of Tumblr. Keep this in mind when you’re doing your general Tumblr search and check the URL of your results, because... “search” & “tagged” look at #hash-tags differently!

(This is so confusing, we know.)

“Search” will look through 20 #hash-tags. “Tagged” will only look through 5 #hash-tags. So, put your most important #hash-tags in your first 5!!

Q: Can you talk about xkit?

A: xkit is awesome and we should all bow down to the xkit guy because he fixes things when Tumblr poops on the carpet. Seriously. It’s only for use on desktop, but it makes Tumblr so much easier to manage.

xkit is an extension for your browser. Look for New xkit, and download that. Once you have xkit loaded, click on the xkit icon near the top right of your screen. When the xkit window pops up, click on Get Extensions. We could suggest a list of the best extensions, but they’re all seriously awesome. Blacklist seems to be the most common, as it filters out posts you don’t want to see based on tags and text. Auto Tagger, Activity+, Outbox, One-Click Postage, and Quick Tags are all ridiculously useful for everyday blogging. The whole thing is super easy to learn and use, and you can’t break anything while you’re learning. Some extensions, like Blacklist, may slow your computer down when you’re surfing your dash because they essentially surf it ahead of you and manipulate it. If you start seeing problems, you can disable any extensions you decide you don’t want to use, anymore.

Seriously, it’s freaking awesome.

Great talk, guys! If you have ideas for topics, please let us know!!

General Pond Updates and Reminders

What we’ve got cooking up next: 

We’re working on setting up the discord server. We’re still learning the ins and outs and all the options available. More options means more discussion among the admins and decisions to be made, so please be patient! We’re getting there!

Reminders:

Angel Fish Award nominations are accepted all month long! No need to wait to tell us how much you liked a fellow Fish’s work!  IF YOU HAVE SENT IN A NOMINATION, BUT HAVE NOT RECEIVED A PRIVATE MESSAGE CONFIRMING WE RECEIVED IT, WE DIDN’T GET IT. Be sure to use Submit instead of Ask!

Don’t forget to submit your stories to be posted to the blog! When your stories are on the blog, then they are easier to nominate for Angel Fish Awards!

SPNFanFicPond Season 14 Weekly Episode Challenge - Now that the season is over, we will be reposting each prompt list through the summer months! Remember, there’s no deadline for submissions!

Say hi to June’s New Members!

Check the Pond CALENDAR to see when Big Fish will be in the chat room and other Pond and SPN events are happening! Know of something that’s not on the calendar, send us an ask or submission with the deets info details!  The calendar offers a lot of features, such as showing you when things are in your own timezone! Since we’re an international group, that’s a definite plus!!

We don’t have a topic or speaker set up for August’s event, yet, so if there’s something you want to talk about, or someone you want to talk to, LET US KNOW!

[birdsongvelvet]

I’m like, really missing the internet of olde lately (more than usual). Weird thing is I rarely participated in it, just read a lot. Communities for whatever show I was into that year on Livejournal. Endless Xanga surveys and collecting icons. Forums for literally any topic. Crappy Harry Potter fanfiction on the Warner Bros forums on out to Fanfiction.net and other sites. Fansites in general!! Taking personality quizzes and learning to build my own in HTML. Laughing at (and feeling sew edgy about being on) mid-00s YTMND and SomethingAwful and Newgrounds. Open Diary, the OG blog site (actually the only one I ever had a blog on before tumblr - as I said, I just read a lot rather than participated, which I regret now). Finding a thousand self-made sites or forum posts by people who were just really into a subject when you searched something rather than just articles from big media outlets and official sites. Being able to obsess over whatever celebrity online because they weren’t actually online to see it, mandated by their publicist to maintain social media profiles (and the rare ones who actually did interact with fans online were a novelty). Customizing your signature in a message board. Scrolling through links in webrings and then bored.com and then StumbleUpon. I never had MySpace but I would read what kids from my school were up to on there, judge whatever song was on their profile that week. Even early Facebook with all the buttons and drawing pads and top friends things you could put on your wall.

Everything is so corporate and sanitized now (or if it’s not sanitized, it’s the worst of humanity tearing the real world apart). I don’t even know where you go to meet fans of things with that much passion and specificity anymore. Like, even the fact that on here in the early part of this decade there was a group of 10-20 of us who loved Hey Rosetta! enough to be friends over it and dissect everything they did feels impossible now. I feel like these days you can’t find that for small bands/movies/books/shows/whatever (that and the Canadian media that built up bands like HR! has largely fallen apart since then, but that’s another rant). Modern tumblr, Reddit and Instagram (I refuse to touch twitter with a ten foot pole anymore) just ain’t the same as obsessive forums and fansites and LJ communities were. Some things persist - like, those little story templates on Instagram I suppose are similar to what blog surveys used to be - but it’s still not the same. I even miss the way everything used to look, because it was personalized for each person and that helped me and so many others learn to do stuff like Photoshop and basic coding. Then facebook’s uniform white profile kind of ruined all that.

The internet just isn’t fun for me anymore. And I’ve been glued to it for so long that I don’t know what to replace it with. That was a sweet time we got to live through with all that crazy creativity and nerdiness in the early web and it sucks being so far out from that now. And genuine enjoyment of things seems to be met by “lol cringe” a lot of the time. Idk why I’m feeling this so acutely all of a sudden. Now the internet is just everyone’s replacement for TV and phone calls and newspapers and shopping malls and office file cabinets all designed to make some really horrible companies and people money, rather than its own weird hobby for weird people like it once was.

[sauntering-down]

i dreamed i was traveling along Sunrise Highway - sometimes driving, sometimes walking - and at one of the points i was walking, i was in this big crowd of people outside a fence.  they were slowing me down, so i was going to step off the sidewalk (into the road apparently lol) and go around, but someone behind me said i shouldn’t, because you only had a chance of being chosen if you were in the line.  i didn’t know what that meant.  i stayed on the sidewalk anyway and it turned out, behind the fence, there was some television show or movie being filmed, and some of the staff were standing by the gate, choosing random people to be extras or help with filming.  i got picked to handle some kind of microphone.  when i was walking in, i asked how long this would take, because my parents were expecting me, but the woman said it’d only be like fifteen minutes.  she brought me over to a girl who was working one of the other microphones and said she’d show me what to do.

the set was like... this ancient Greco-Roman sort of thing.  lots of columns and plants, i remember.  i had no idea what we were actually filming, but the girl gave me the microphone and said to keep it as close to the actors as i could without actually getting it into the shot so i picked up their voices.  filming got delayed for some reason, though.  the woman from earlier decided to send some of us random people home - i didn’t have to leave, but one of the guys she’d apparently just picked because they were in a relationship and now she kicked him out, lol.  to pass the time, i sat with the other microphone girl and recorded her as she read some voice-over stuff.  i had a copy of her script and it was like... one of those surveys you’d see on MySpace or LiveJournal, plus what looked like an angry rant, but as she read that, she paused between statements as if it was a phone call or something.  we still had nothing to do after that, so we hung out on a lounge chair together and i was looking through a notebook (there were recipes for some cakes or pies that i’d apparently baked for a friend) while she practiced a song called ‘The Things That You Know’ - i remember she sang the first verse and the chorus, but i don’t recall any of it, now.  i suddenly realized all the lights and stuff were turning off and asked the director what was happening as he walked by; he was like “oh, you two are still here?  you can go, we’re done for the night”, at which point i promptly woke up.

[meadow-dusk]

LONG LONG LONG

a music survey from livejournal days…

- TO TAKE THIS SURVEY, SIMPLY PUT YOUR MUSIC PLAYER ON SHUFFLE AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS WITH THE TITLE OF THE SONG THAT COMES ON - [it’s better if you don’t cheat and don’t skip any songs.]

What is your name?: Moby Dick • Led Zep

How is your life going?: Get on the Right Thing • Paul McCartney

What is your nickname?: The Day the World Gets ‘Round • George Harrison

What is your theme song?: Little Games • The Yardbirds

What is your best friend’s theme song?: Wait • The Beatles

How is your life going to turn out?: Communication Breakdown • Led Zeppelin

Will you get married?: Four Sticks • Led Zeppelin

Will you have kids?: For What It’s Worth • Haley Reinhart

What will your job be?: Rattled • Traveling Wilburys

Did you/will you finish school?: Good Times, Bad Times • Led Zeppelin

Who is your best friend?: Behind that Locked Door • George Harrison

Who is or will be your significant other?: Think Pink! • Beyond Pink

Who do you like?: We’re All in This Together • High School Musical Cast

How will you die?: Stairway to Heaven • Led Zeppelin (YAAAAAS)

How do you feel right now?: Sentimental Journey • Ringo Starr

What is your favorite song?: Matilda Mother • Pink Floyd

How could you describe your parents?: Pilate and Christ • Jesus Christ Superstar (you can’t make this stuff up yall)

Your best friend[s]?: Postcards from Paradise • Ringo Starr

Your teachers?: She’s Not There • The Zombies

Your significant other [or crush…]?: Riding on a Bus • The Beatles (an interview)

Yourself?: Brian Bathtubes • The Beatles (taking requests)

What is your best feature?: The Riddle • Five for Fighting

What will you be/should you be, profession-wise?: Desire • U2

How could you describe this survey?: I Told You So • Randy Travis

What makes you angry?: Moanin’ • Chris Farlowe ft. Jimmy Page and a random sitarist (this song is so interesting)

What makes you sad?: Everything I Know • Mandy Gonzalez 

What makes you happy?: One • Bee Gees

What makes you dance?: I Still • Backstreet Boys

What is your favorite color?: Sundown • Gordon Lightfoot

How would you describe yourself?: Heart Attack • One Direction

Who is your worst enemy?: Little Soldier Boy • The Yardbirds

Who do you hate?: No Me Diga • In the Heights

Who do you love?: I Started a Joke • Bee Gees

Who do you lust after?: What Do You Want? • The Yardbirds Finish the Sentence I wish: Rainy Day Women #12 and 35 • Bob Dylan I want to: We’re on the Road Again • Ringo Starr I want to kill:. Money • The Beatles I want to eat: Spring Musical Medley • HSM3 yall with Kryan duet to open My head: Sometimes I’ll Be There • Naked Brothers Band (accurate) I am: Movin On • Rascal Flatts My best feature is: The Sad Bells of Rhymney • Fifth Avenue My eyes are: Safest Place to Hide • Backstreet Boys My hair is: Who Can See It • George Harrison My face is: Baby Come on Home • Led Zeppelin You should: Not This Time • 3Lw

Random Words of advice: And Here We Are Again • The Beatles  How do others see me?: Rhythm of Love • Plain White T’s How do I see myself?: Knowing Me, Knowing You • ABBA *** For this first section, put down the first ten songs that play, and then rate them on a scale of 1 - 5 (5 being the best) in the next column. 1. I Have a Dream •  Abba 2/5 2. Sounds of Silence • Simon and Garfunkel 5/5 3. In The Flesh • Pink Floyd 4/5  4. Ya-Ya •  John Lennon (ft. Julian on drums) 4/5  5. Magic Bus • The Who Live at the Isle of Wright 4/5 6. Stomp • Steps 2/5 7. KICK DA DUST UP • Luke Bryan 4/5 8. Your Mother Should Know • The Beatles 5/5 9. Photograph • Ringo (2017) 3/5 he sounds great but it isn’t exciting also who’s the chick I didnt sign up for this 10. Piggies • The Beatles 5/5 good one George Now for a little fortune telling… 1. Who am I?: Tug of War • Paul McCartney 2. Why am I here?: Bet On It • Zac Efron (skittles and steak) 3. What’s my theme song?: American Beauty/American Psycho • Fall Out Boy 4. How’s tomorrow gonna be?: Behind Blue Eyes • The Who 5. What does ______ really think of me?: Let’s Go to Vegas • Faith Hill 6. What’s this school year going to be about?: Man on Fire • Andy Gibb 7. Is something bad going to happen in the near future?: Little Bitty • Alan Jackson 8. What’s the government going to do next?: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band/The End • Paul McCartney Live at Citi Field 9. What’s my best friend doing right now?: Inutil • Carlos Gomez 10. What does my iPod/MP3 think about me?: American Girl • Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Last section! These next questions are all about music 1. I absolutely LOVE this song!: The Look of Love • ABC Comments: This was in Start the Commotion and there was a clip art of eyes as the O’s in look 2. I have no clue why this song is still on my music player: Steppin’ Out • John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers Comments: It’s saved because I occasionally really try to get into Clapton 3. This song has AMAZING lyrics: Love Will Find a Way • Pablo Cruise Comments: I remembered his initials but not his name

4. The band that does this song is one of my favorites: Most Peculiar Man • Simon and Garfunkel Comments: I would not say favorites but I give them their due 5. My dad loves this song: Songs About Rain • Gary Allan Comments: he bought the CD and took it on road trips so probs 6. My mom can’t stand this song: The Hook (All My Love) • Led Zeppelin Comments: she probably can stand it more than me 7. I have a sibling who enjoys listening to songs by this band: When You See a Chance • Steve Winwood Comments: fair to say that cause once she asked me what the name of Valerie was 8. One of my best friends hates the band that does this song: Like Nobody’s Around • Big Time Rush Comments: NO FRIEND OF MINE! 9. I got this song off a mix CD: Got My Mind Set On You • George Harrison Comments: I learned how to do the mashed potato to this song 10. This song is on a movie soundtrack: The Freedom Song • Jason Mraz Comments: could definitely be but don’t hold this one down

11. Share a memory involving this song in comments: Friday On My Mind • The Easybeats Comments: running to it - how was there this much good music at one time 12. I’ve played this song on repeat before: You’re My Number One • S Club 7 Comments: Try this ALBUM back when we used to play S Club and have choreography 13. This song is on the band’s Greatest Hit’s CD: Ramblin’ Man • Allman Brothers Band Comments: if it isn’t they screwed up 14. I love dancing to this song!: If You Wanna Do a Dance • The Spinners Comments: seems like that was the idea 15. This song gets me every time I hear it: Bathroom Sound (Out on the Tiles early take) • Led Zeppelin Comments: I prefer the final version with vocals and silly quips but this version does just as well for Bonzo Appreciation Time 16. This song is great to listen to when you’re angry: Farmer Refuted (Instrumental) • Hamilton  Comments: OH MY GOD tear this dude apart 17. I love the music video for this song: I’m Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band) • Moody Blues Comments: if there is one it’s probably psychedelic so I’d dig it I bet 18. I’ve seen the band that performs this song live: The Boxer • Simon and Garfunkel Comments: I have not.  This song is beautiful.  19. Is this song better to listen to at night, in the morning, or in the afternoon?: Let’s Get Rocked • Def Leppard Comments: morning, running. 20. I haven’t listened to this song in so long!: That’s the Way (Live Paris 1971) • Led Zeppelin Comments: not true it came on on the way to the gym barely a few weeks ago *** What were the first words to Abe Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address?: What ya gonna do when it’s cold outside? (Keep It Hid • Robert Plant) What did Martin Luther King have a dream about, anyways?: You’ve got a cute way of talking, you got the better of me! (You Make Me Feel Like Dancin’ • Leo Sayer)  Tomorrow’s newspapers will all have the major headline of: Out in the Rain Looking for Sunshine (Permanent Stain • Backstreet Boys) If someone offered you some free drugs, how would you respond?: Lord almighty, feel my temperature risin’...(Burning Love • Elvis) What kind of higher power do you believe in?: You need coolin, baby I’ ain’t foolin (Whole Lotta Love • Led Zeppelin) What do people really notice about you?: There’s a girl I know who makes me feel so good (Valleri • The Monkees) What do you notice first in the preferred sex of your choice?: Hey fellas, have ya heard the news you know that Annie’s back in town (Heartbreaker • Led Zeppelin) What do you look for in reading books?: They say that Richard Cory owns one half of this whole town, with political connections to spread his wealth around (Richard Cory • Wings) What’s a must-have quality in a friend for you?: Meeting people along my way, seemingly I’ve known one day (Happenings Ten Years Time Ago • The Yardbirds) What scares the shit out of you?: Gat Kirwani • George Harrison (this has no words it’s just a sitar jam) How do you laugh?: Anna, you come and ask me, girl, to set you free girl? (Anna (Go To Him) • The Beatles)  Why do you do these surveys?: When the night returns just like a friend, when the evening comes to set me free  (If You Know What I Mean • Neil Diamond) Do you have anything you’d like to confess?: I can see you in the window waiting for my call (Untouchable • Big Time Rush) How do you feel about the person you cannot stand the most?: If ever you’ve got rain in your heart, someone has hurt you and torn you apart, am I unwise to open up your eyes to love me (Run To Me • Bee Gees)  The best date ever, in your book, would consist of…: Dear Theodosia, what to say to you?(Dear Theodosia • Leslie Odom Jr. & Lin-Manuel Miranda) If you sent a random Hallmark card to a friend, you would write to them: Are we growing up or just going down? It's just a matter of time until we're all found out. (Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year • Fallout Boy) If you had the chance to speak to (a) God, what would you say?: Every time I see her, she don’t even look my way (Just My Style • Gary Lewis and the Playboys) Finish the sentence: “When the going gets tough…”: My friend came to me with sadness in his eyes and told me that he wanted help before his country dies (Bangla Desh • George Harrison)  How do you deal with your stress?: I can almost remember their funny faces (Jet • Paul McCartney) What is your biggest burden in life?: Somebody’s knocking at the door, somebody’s ringing the bell (Let Em In • Wings) What’s the coolest thing about your best friend?: Hands, put your empty hands in mine (Stand By You • Rachel Platten) Why do you love the one you do?: Sweet, wonderful you.  You make me happy with the things you do (You Make Loving Fun • Fleetwood Mac) If a friend broke their arm and got a cast, what would you write on it?: Gonna build myself a castle high up in the clouds (Dance the Night Away • Cream)  You see a stick and wet cement. What do you write?:  It feels so right now hold me tight (Hold Me Tight • The Beatles) A guy just stole your (purse, car, etc)! What do you yell at him?: Welcome to the camp, I guess you all know why you’re here (We’re Not Gonna Take It • The Who) You pass a crack addict on the corner one day. Solemnly he tells you: Well now we’re respected in society, we don’t worry bout the things that we used to be, we’re talkin heroin with the president (Respectable • The Rolling Stones) What will your baby’s first words be?:  He knows about you in every way, he's memorized every part of your face (Does He Know • One Direction) You are at your wit’s end, and decide to write a suicide note. It begins: The pound is sinking, the peso’s falling, the lira’s reeling and feeling quite appalling (The Pound is Sinking • Paul McCartney) Why can’t there be peace in the world?: Let’s talk about one, bay-bay, ya gotta hear me out (Get Another Boyfriend • Backstreet Boys)

How do you think people see you?: I walked in the band just started, the singer couldn't carry a tune in a bucket (Ten Rounds with Jose Cuervo • Tracy Byrd) Inside, though, what kind of person are you really?: well the rain was a-fallin’ and the ground turned to mud, I was watchin’ all the people running from the flood (Deliver Your Children • Wings) If you wanted to comfort a friend, you’d say: Anytime, any day you can hear the people say that love is blind, well I don’t know but I say love is kind (Listen to What the Man Said • Wings) When you want to cheer someone up, you say: *I just make series of nonsense sounds* (Pow R. Toc H. • Pink Floyd) You’re unbelievably depressed because your friend just told you…: people say we’ve got it made, don’t they know we’re so afraid? (Isolation • John Lennon)

When you are incredibly bored, you start thinking about…?: I drive all alone, at night, I drive all alone, don’t know what I’m headed for. (Dead End Friends • Them Crooked Vultures) You’re a classy person, so instead of cursing when you’re mad, you yell…?: I met a gin-soaked, bar-room queen in Memphis (Honky Tonk Women • The Rolling Stones)   you’re writing a love letter, but what are you going to begin it with?: The theater’s so obsessed with drama so depressed, it’s hard to sell a ticket on broadway! (Keep It Gay • The Producers)  If you were to write a letter to the President of the USA, it would say…?: It’s a boy, Mrs. Walker, it’s a boy (It’s a Boy • The Who) What would someone have to tell you to make you really angry?: No no no no, don’t phunk with mah haaahrt (Don’t Phunk with My Heart • Black-Eyed Peas) …To make you really depressed?:  Cars and girls are easy to come by in this day and age, laughing joking drinking smoking til I spend my wage (Over Under Sideways Down • The Yardbirds) ...To make you sexually aroused?: Catch a star if you can, wish for something special (Are You Ready for Love • The Spinners) Your first thoughts waking up were…: Life is just a bowl of All-Bran, you wake up every morning and it’s there (Happydaystoytown • The Small Faces)  Your last words before falling asleep will be…: the sun is shining in the sky, there ain’t a cloud in sight (Mr. Blue Sky • Electric Light Orchestra)

[can-you-stomach-it]

Gay fanfiction takes over the internet in an empowering representation movement

Queer people are often excluded from mainstream media, except when used as a comic device.  Confronted with constant erasure, stereotypical portrayals, and damaging tropes, the queer entertainment consumer often feels alienated.  Growing up, I always found it hard to enjoy the typical high school romance series and the dramatic love stories in films and books. I was unable to find people like me portrayed on media and, when they did appear, they were used as the butt of an offensive joke.  However, surfing the web, I discovered something astonishing: tired of waiting for good representation, LGBT+ folks had made a space for themselves in fandoms, pushing their own stories and identities into mainstream media by publishing fanfiction.

Nowadays, the internet has become the perfect place for thousands of fans to write and read stories that offer a new take on the shows, books, and movies they love.  From my own experience, I can tell that the number of LGBT+ people in these communities is astonishing.  While there have been few efforts to explore its demographics, a 2013 survey for users of Archive of Our Own (AO3) found that 62.0% of fanfiction writers were not heterosexual.  Furthermore, 36.0% respondents identified as genderqueer.  Most of them defy heteronormativity by developing male/male and female/female pairings.  Who is to say Captain America and Bucky cannot make a good couple?

Fanfiction has an enormous significance in the lives of LGBT+ people.  When I discovered I was not straight, I started to realize, painfully, how straight couples dominated all media.  Therefore, when I encountered queer fanfiction, I felt as though I had found something I desperately needed. I was a big fan of the Harry Potter books, so, while exploring lore on the web, I stumbled with Harry/Draco fanfiction.  Fascinated, I went over tens of fanfics in a few days’ time.  They were all the classic high school romantic comedy story, but with magic and two guys in love.  It felt right, more so than any straight romance I had read.  It became a way to explore my identity and accept myself.

My experience as a young queer reader is not unique.  Popular fanfics involving same-sex couples, like Auf Wiedersehen Sweetheart in the Hetalia fandom have been read by thousands of people who do not feel adequately represented anywhere else. Often, these stories are also written by LGBT+ authors, who are constantly introducing themes related to their struggles in an empowering gesture.  Whenever I get disappointed by the lack of LGBT+ representation in a show or book, I can turn to the fans in AO3, Fanfiction.net, Tumblr and LiveJournal for more inclusive stories.  In this way, fanfiction communities have become safe spaces in which queer people can explore and write about their identities and struggles

Recently, when looking for fanfiction for The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild, I found a breath-taking one-chapter fanfic by user Evie Thameskeepey on AO3 called A Prince, Waiting Far Beyond the Sand Dunes.  On it, I found more diversity than in most books published nowadays.  It included disabled, genderfluid, transgender, pansexual and non-white characters, and none of their identities was a main plot point. That is the kind of casual representation we, as LGBT+ people, are looking for.  While we wait for it, we will keep on reading and writing fanfiction. I would like to close by citing author Jo Chiang: “People write fanfiction partly out of love, but also partly out of a deep dissatisfaction with what is available”.

Works referenced

Lulu. (October 2013). AO3 Census: Masterpost. Consulted on March 22, 2018. Available at http://centrumlumina.tumblr.com/post/63208278796/ao3-census-masterpost

Evie Thameskeepey (pen name). (2017). A Prince, Waiting Far Beyond the Sand Dunes. Consulted on March 22, 2018. Available at http://archiveofourown.org/works/11458560

[lovemesomesurveys]

Have you cuddled with someone today? No.

Can you smell anything right now? I smell my coffee.

Have you spoken to a relative on the phone today? No, not so far anyway. My mom will likely call to check on me later.

Do you use the toilet paper with the colourful designs on it? No.

Do you wear your hair up or down most often? It’s always up in a messy bun.

How does alcohol affect you? It made me chatty and annoying I feel like and I’d have fun for awhile, but then most often ended up feeling sad and shitty towards the end. And sometimes sick. :X I don’t miss drinking at all.

When was the last time you had a cold or flu? Over a year ago.

What was the first thing you ate today? I had scrambled eggs and blueberry Eggos. 

Do you have anything more important you should be doing right now? No.

Do you still buy the paper or do you get your news elsewhere? I’ve never bought the paper. I get a lot of my news from the news app on my phone and online. 

Have you ever eaten tofu and if so, did you enjoy it? No, I’ve never had any desire to try it. 

Have you worn make-up today? Nope. I haven’t worn makeup in like 4 years now.

Do you ever get dizzy and nauseous when you’re extremely tired? Not nauseous, but dizzy sometimes. 

Have you ever tried lemon brownies? No, but that sounds delicious.

Can you hear anything right now? The ASMR video I’m listening to.

What was the last type of meat you ate? Pork.

What colour is your toothpaste? White.

Have you taken any medication today? Yes.

Have you ever been suspended from school? Nope.

Have you ever inhaled helium? No, I’ve always been too afraid to try it lol.

Have you bought something that was on sale today? I haven’t bought anything today.

Are you a fan of Adam Sandler? I like some of his movies.

What was the last fruit you ate? There were blueberries in my Eggos, ha.

Off the top of your head how many aisles are in the supermarket you shop at? We do our grocery shopping at Walmart, there’s a ton of aisles. 

Have you ever watched Parks and Recreation? I’ve seen some episodes.

Have you watched a movie this week? Nope.

How far away is the closest McDonald’s from your house? Like not even 5 minutes away.

Have you ever been to a wedding? Yeah, a few.

What is your favourite kind of pasta? Spaghetti and meatballs, pesto, ravioli, and pasta salads. 

Have you set an alarm today? No.

When was the last time you visited relatives? I saw one of my aunts a few months ago.

Have you asked someone for advice today? No.

What was the last website you were on, other than this one? LiveJournal hunting for surveys.

Did you ever play Habbo Hotel? No.

Do you speak any languages other than English? Only a little Spanish.

Have you ever been to Hawaii? No, but I’d love to go.

Have you watched more than an hour of TV today? Yeah.

What’s your best talent? I don’t have any.

Do you know anyone named Nicole? Nope.

Have you ever had a true FML moment? Uh, yeah. A lot.

Are you considering having children right now? Nooo. I don’t want to have kids.

Do you enjoy the darkness? No.

Are you afraid of being single? No.

Do you have a new boy-/girlfriend every week? Ha, not even close. I’ve been single for several years and haven’t even been talking to or interested in anyone for the past few years.

How much memory does your computer have? I don’t feel like checking.

Do you play video games? Sometimes.

What color are your eyes? Brown. Is your hair layered? No.

What’s the closest yellow thing to you? Some of my leftover scrambled eggs.

Have you ever shot an animal? No, omg.

Do you exercise daily? I don’t at all, but I just got some little 3lbs hand weights because being bedridden and dealing with health issues has made me loose strength, so I need to start trying to build that back up. Slowly.

Can you do cool things with your hair? I haven’t attempted to in a very long time, it’s just always thrown up in a messy bun cause I don’t have the energy to deal with it. I’m going to cut it short again soon, actually. I was never good at styling hair, though.

Do you have a couch in your house? Yeah, we have 3.

Would you like to have a soda machine in your room? That would be kinda cool, ha. I’d have some sodas and some Starbucks Doubleshot energy drinks in it.

Are you impatient? Very.

Would you pay someone to drive you around everywhere? Nah.

Do you think soap operas are too good to be true? I think soap operas suuuper cringe. I can’t watch ‘em.

Are you conscious of your weight? Very.

Have you ever jumped out of a window? No.

What kind of mood are you usually in? Moody, irritable, depressed, frustrated, tired, blah.

Do you have a webcam? My Mac has one built in but I’ve never used it.

Do you finish other people’s sentences? Sometimes.

How many pairs of shoes do you own? A few.

When’s your birthday? July 28th.

Do you feel important where you’re at right now? Huh?

Are you short-tempered? It takes a lot to get me angry, but not irritated that’s for sure.

Have you ever been homeless? No.

How many online accounts do you have? >> A lot? I'm not going to try to tally them up. 

Do you drive through red lights? I don’t drive at all, but if I did I wouldn’t be driving through red lights and possibly causing accidents or worse for others or myself.

What sound puts you to sleep? ASMR can help with that.

Are you a fast or slow reader? Fast.

Are you a good speller? I think I am.

Do you have a TV in your bedroom? Yes.

How long can you go without sleeping? It varies, but it’s funny cause I’m sitting here doing this and my eyes are getting heavy, ha. I’m still tired. I had a busy day yesterday for the first time in over a year and I’ve been going through a lot health wise the past couple months and have been very fatigued.

How long can you go without talking? Awhile. Especially these days.

Do you currently have a job? No.

Do you tend to always be in some sort of drama? No.

Do you collect quarters from every state? Nope.

Would you rather sleep all night or sleep all day? Sleep all night.

Do you hate getting up early? I’d much rather sleep in.

Could you see yourself being a bartender? Nah. Not my thing at all.

Have you ever been in an abusive relationship? No.

Are you currently tired? Ugh, yes. I can’t keep my eyes open. 

What was the last thing you had to drink? Coffee.

Do you like to take walks? No.

Have you ever had deja vu? Yeah, many times.

Are you a fan of anime? No.

Do you draw a lot? I don't draw at all.

Do you plan on going to college? I did and graduated already.

Do you feel at home in your own home? Yes.

Do you pay for your own cell phone bill? No. I’m on a family plan that my parents and brother take care of.

[guiltypleasurefandomface]

Another Ye Olde Fashioned Livejournal Shuffle Survey

Alright, put your music player on shuffle. Put the title of the song that comes up as your answer. ENJOY!

What's your name?: Secret Smile How are you today?:  She’s Electric What do my friends really think of me?: One Life What do I really think of my best friend?: Karma Chamelion Does my crush like me?: When WIll The Good Apples Fall (🤨) Will I ever have (more) children?: Complicated Is the world out to get me?: ‘Till There Was You What will tomorrow be like?: Rusian and Ludmilla Overture What was yesterday like?: It’s A Hard Life (Accurate, and true!!) How would my mother describe me?: Love Is No BIg Truth What should I be doing right now?: Put On Your Sunday Clothes What time is it?: Abra Cadabra What are you afraid of?: Another Girl Do you ever sleep?: Call Me What will I dream about tonight?: I’m A Loser (The Beatles are at it again) Do/will my children love me?: Totally Addicted To Plaice Do I have friends?: Falling In Love (Acoustic) What's your favourite song?: Swinging on a Star What song best describes me?: Under Pressure What song best describes my life, overall?: Joining A Fan Club (🙃) What song best describes my life, at this moment?: Goodnight Girl Do you have any advice for me?: Two Princes (🤭 ooh err) What do you have to say to the world?: We Are The Champions (NIce, thanks Freddie!) Do you love me?: I’m On My Way Should I love you?: Friday Night