#theres no pressure to participate if i tagged you! only do it if you find this kind of thing fun. : )

[boxedwinedean]

tagged by @gustingirl to list the 6 albums ive been listening to lately! (tysm for the tag!)

1. Puberty 2 - Mitski

2. Who Really Cares - TV Girl

3. Eureka - Mother Mother

4. Bronco - Orville Peck

5. The Anthology - The Ink Spots

6. The Fool in Her Wedding Gown - The Crane Wives

tagging @clarasamelia @superhell @saviingferris @knarliesluvr @totalcommieslut @meowkiwikat <3

[madsworld15]

word find tag!

my words are: metal, grip, flex, cold, count

I have one active WIP, so I pulled from the unpublished Part 3. I was able to find cold in it 2x and count 1x.

word: cold (theres beauty when its bleak, part 3 Britin fic)

Brian didn’t respond; instead, he paced the courtyard a bit more before he stubbed his cigarette out and returned to the cold, stiff hospital hallway. Fuck he hated hospitals. He had done everything possible to stay out of them his whole life, only failing a couple of times. Michael had been right. He should eat something. It wouldn’t do anyone any good if he ended up here alongside the kid.

word: cold (theres beauty when its bleak, part 3 Britin fic)

“Could be that your insulin expired, overheated, or got too cold. Add to that the stress of someone you care about being in the hospital. Either way, your body didn’t get the dose it needed to maintain levels after you ate. You really should get admitted so we can give you a dose of insulin.” “What? And charge me an arm and a leg because my insurance has a 50% Emergency Visit copay? No thanks. I will just go home and dose myself with a new vial.” Brian tried to stand up defiantly, but his vision swam, and he had to sit back down once more.

word: count (theres beauty when its bleak, part 3 Britin fic)

But he also can’t walk away. Ever since Justin came waltzing into his life, full of bravado and confidence, Brian had wanted to be around him. He would never outwardly admit that, just like he could never soberly admit he enjoyed that Michael clings to him so desperately. Ever since Brian was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes as a kid and his father slapped him around for costing him money he didn’t have while his mother sat there quietly telling him it was God’s plan and that the man was testing them all, he had known he couldn’t rely on anyone but himself. Then he met Michael Novotny and his mother, and Brian realized that maybe sometimes he could count on someone to love him and worry about him without the added level of blame or guilt.

Not sure if these folks have done this but hey! no pressure: @winderlylandchime @thotpuppy @cozyrosykay and any other writer who wants to participate.

your words are: strange, chilly, better, jump, laugh

[writeflair]

writing ask game!

thanks for tagging me sydney!! @lumosdracarys this was fun!

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received?

nothing specifically comes to mind, but when i read on writing by stephen king, it really motivated me and gave me advice in so many different matters. i guess specifically, i always used to be terrified about trying to make my first drafts look good, but every piece of advice i’ve heard about just letting go of that perfection and simply writing has hit me in a different way each time and reminded me it’s ok to suck the first time around!

What was the most difficult scene to write in your WIP?

one thing that’s hard for me in any wip is the beginning. i have such a hard time writing a first scene that i think properly introduces the story, and i always have the urge to go back and rewrite it, never moving forward in my wip. i’m fighting that urge with httk right now, just reminding myself it’s a first draft and i can fix it later.

Are you a part of any writing communities?

not really! none irl, i’ve been part of a few different online ones in the past that i’ve drifted away from for different reasons but otherwise i’m only a part of writeblr as a community!

Which do you plan first: plot or characters?

really, it depends on how i get the inspiration for a story: most of the time it’s because i’ve thought of a character and made the plot around them. sometimes the plot and the character come together. hail to the king is one wip that started with a basic plot idea and i later developed characters and everything from there. but mostly, i prefer to start with characters and let the plot revolve around them!

Are you planning on publishing your WIP? Traditionally or self-publishing?

it’d be so cool for one of my wips to be published some day! traditional publishing was always my original dream, but i could see myself self-pubbing httk when it’s done!

Do you post your writing online, or do you prefer to keep it a secret?

i’m like, really bad about how protective i am of my work lol. i rarely let ANYONE read them and i’m super shy about even my immediate family members reading my stuff. i’ve published some fanfiction online in the past but i usually never share original work. trying to get better with that haha, because i do eventually want to share it with people!

Are you participating in Camp NaNoWriMo in July? Or NaNoWriMo in November?

yes, i’ll be working on httk for july’s camp nano!! we’ll see how this upcoming year goes for me, i’ve done nano in november of 2016 and 17, but last year was too stressful for me to want to do it. right now i’m thinking i definitely want to though!

Do you prefer to write in a notebook or on your computer?

i am more of a computer writer. notebooks are more for brainstorming or shorter ideas i just want to get on a page so i dont forget it, but i do love scribbling down things in a cute notebook <3

 Describe your WIP’s “aesthetic.”

reading books by candlelight, laughing at a campfire’s side, a breeze blowing through hair, talking about secrets on a quiet night, holding back tears, running and not looking back, missing a home you can’t return to

(i’ve never done one of these before so i hope that kind of sums it up eee)

Would you be friends with your characters in real life?

definitely! not just the ones in my current wip but i would love to be friends with most of my characters! there are some crazy ones and villains that i probably wouldn’t, but i would love even just to talk to them, lol.

What are some of your favorite writeblrs?

ooh. i’m still pretty new to writeblr and i love everyone i follow lol but i guess i’ll just throw out a few @heywriters @pens-swords-stuff  @wordsnstuff @mvcreates but theres soo many talented creators out there with awesome stuff that i love <3

whew, ok. i give such long answers lmao. so i guess tag more people?@hiddendreamer67 @mishkas-writing  @tobiandjane but like. no pressure to do it! and can i just say i’m tagging @ anyone else who wants to do this? :D

 here are some of my questions for y’all:

how long have you been working on your current wip?

how much do you outline before you start writing?

do you like to sort your ocs into a personality type? (mbti, hogwarts house, etc.)

is finding inspo on pinterest essential when you’re brainstorming?

a wip you worked on when you were 12?

a genre you haven’t written in yet but would like to?

what time of day do you write best?

when did you start to love writing?

share a description of your protagonist in your current wip?

authors who inspire you?

[bizzaro-stormy-blog]

Like, Questions and Stuff?

eeeeeee i dont think ive ever been tagged in one of these so thanks @latenightgaymer you are the bees knees!!

Where do you currently live? 

portland oregon

Where would you prefer to live if given the option, and why?

oregon is my home, i used to have a dream of moving back to seattle and buying back the house my grandfather built but the city has changed and so have i.

 the weather is usually perfect here (we have had waaaaay too much sun lately) theres green literally everywhere and it feels alive. 

i have always thought about alaska for the same reasons + snow

Shoe size?

14 us its hard to find cheap and nice shoes in my size

Is there a movie/book/show/game you’re looking forward to? What about it has you most excited?

i really want to borrow the scarlet gospels from my friend i know its not a new book but i want to read it super bad, also comic books from another friend (too many to list honestly but Trees, Wytches and the wicked + the Divine are at the front) id also like to read a physical copy of kill six billion demons when i can afford it.

 im super excited for the second seasons of westworld, legion and american gods aswell as the next seasons of Killjoys, the magicians, archer, my hero acadamia, steven universe, shameless, van helsing, its always sunny, RPDR and like all of the netflix shows, im also looking forward to the rest of the seasons of the good place, the orville and the mick...i might watch too much tv. 

im super excited for the .hack gu remaster, the last of us 2, shadow of the colossus remaster, cyberpunk 2077 and bloodborne 2 as unlikely as it is (miyazaki grant us a sequel as you once did for vacuous darksouls)

Wine, or hard liquor?  What is one of your preferred drinks?

i dont drink, thats not to say i havent just that it took soo much for me to feel even a tiny bit light headed im pretty sure i cant get drunk and dont see the point. im a water man and on the occasions i have soda dr pepper and root beer are king, if not lemonade i guess

Physical touch, do you enjoy it?  What’s your favorite spot, what spot do you not want to be touched?

im a bit weird here, i tend to recoil and flinch if im touched (probably a result of growing up with an older brother who used his size to be physically controling and abusive aswell as various other people in my life who have treated me as a punching bag) especially around my chest i tend to curl up and get defensive (again probably the result of an older sister who thinks twisting my nipples so hard they bleed is an apropriate answer to a disagreement).

on the other hand i am very physically affectionate i love to hug people, touch people, hold people, bite people (not in the sexy nibble way so much as the "bro did you just fucking bite me?!" way) anything really if im around other physically affectionate people which is kinda rare as there are like 2 physically affectionate people in my life and i only see one on a regular basis

Go into your YouTube history and provide the link to the 7th video in the list.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbq01mubZqc

though i had to open a video to get to my history so i guess its technically

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnq3VBQu_kI

What was the last song you listened to?

This Song By RAC ft Rostam

Do you have any thoughts on ‪Nick Jonas‬?

Who?

Water or silicone based?

well gee im a water based life form myself but id be interested in meeting a silicone based life form :p

The most illicit controlled substance you’ve partaken in?

does doctor prescribed Vicodin count?

If you could get your friends/family to watch one specific gay movie, which one would it be?

i would have to say closet monster though i think of that less as a specifically gay movie and more as a delve into the stress and pressure of someone transitioning into adulthood coming from a broken, dysfunctional and traumatic childhood, its honestly such a great movie.

 now a movie where the plot is specifically gay? the weekend, its simple sweet and is easily relatable for most people, honestly i love this movie because it doesn't over dramatize a relationship and makes the characters feel real,

orientation aside its just a good human story

Do you listen to podcasts?  If so do you listen to them while you’re doing something else?

not often its almost always a one off or the savagelovecast, i used to listen to professor blastoff regularly but stopped for some reason, usually im reading or writing and want something not as easy to zone out to as music and not as distracting as silence

What do you do on a Sunday?

not much save check for manga (i know im a neeerd) or webtoon updates which usually ends with me frustratedly remembering Tower Of God updates on Mondays

Birth sign and zodiac?  What do you like most about both, what do you like least.  If you could pick which would you prefer?

ok so in advanced astrology is not much more than a novelty for me and i generally believe signs and what not to hold no sway over real life, i do find it interesting how they can sometimes get portions of peoples personalities and lives right but i would rather attribute that to the trillions of factors that went into the conception and birth of a person before the position of far away stellar bodies (ie babies born 9 months after valentines day probably have romantic parents so they themselves are romantics? idk dude).

that said i am a Taurus and my zodiac sign is the dragon i love them and would never change them, while i dont believe they hold any greater meaning to me i do feel the bull and the dragon represent me more as symbols of myself, though strangely i cant seem to escape them (along with crows and bears...idk dude my conscious and unconscious worlds are strange).

In front of my salad?

Bitch if you would stop breaking into my house to eat your salads you wouldn't be seeing anything you dont want to.

Last book or comic you enjoyed?

uuh physical book? shiiiiit its been a minute but it was ether a david sedaris book or a reread of the water mirror series. 

comic books? old man logan was amazing and i always reread Dango Sunshine occasionally. 

if webcomics count then kill six billion demons, a better place, avas demon, paranatural, gunnerkrigg court, cassiopeia quinn, unsounded,  gloomverse, mokepon and i just reread both Vibe and JUNE (if you havent read any of these please check them out they are amazing)

A kink or fetish you have,  can you explain how it became one for you?

uhmmm i dont know dude im pretty vanilla i dont have allot (read any) experience so im pretty open to trying anything really, i dont know dude even if im outwardly an asshole sometimes when it comes down to it so long as you arent forcing yourself upon someone or something unable (unaware, underdeveloped or unable to fully understand what it means) to give consent im open to you and will atleast try to understand you and your kink and maybe participate with you if thats your goal....

....ok so i might have one fetish? tattoos are hot af that is all...

Supply the link to either an image or video you think will bring a chuckle to those following you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0c29Cu_8bQ

imma just tag yous guys cause you are the collective best

@sbot12 @bonefireheart9 @that1cameraguy @incredible91 @dammitcat @mapcus

[meta-gamer-blog]

Guild Wars 2 | Getting Started

You've seen the videos, or maybe a stream. You've heard the hype. You want to try Guild Wars 2. This guide should help you get started.

Do I need to have played Guild Wars?

No. There are some minor benefits from having played Guild Wars. You can get a cool title and you might get a few of the lore references. But thats it. Theres no direct impact and, given Guild Wars 2 is set a long time after the first game, theres no direct continuity to the story. Guild Wars as a game feels very clunky these days, so feel free to skip straight to Guild Wars 2.

Getting the Game

Guild Wars 2 comes in three editions: 

Guild Wars 2 base game - this is completely free. There are a few limits on it, but these are mostly aimed at kicking the gold sellers to the kerb. You can play to max and access all content that came with the original game including all maps, story and both PvP modes.

Heart of Thorns expansion - this adds new maps and story, and all Masteries associated with Heart of Maguuma or Central Tyria, including Gliding and making legendary precursors, needed to craft weapons (you can still get them to drop randomly without this).

Path of Fire - this adds new maps and story, and all mounts and their associated Masteries.

You might notice that neither Heart of Thorns or Path of Fire have 'new levels' against them. This is correct - expansions in Guild Wars 2 add no new levels. There are also no new tiers of gear.

There are also two DLC type packs you can buy to access more story content and maps, called the Living World. You can buy Living World Season 2 and 3 in the gem store if you don't have them. These episodes are made available for free as long as you log in while a given episode is 'live'. You needed to own Heart of Thorns to access Living World Season 3, so likely you will need Path of Fire for Season 4. You can unlock a chapter even if you don't own the prerequisites - you just can't play it until you buy the prerequisite expansion.

What this means is that if you are levelling, you should just grab the base game. Once you hit 80 you can consider whether you want to buy more content. You can buy the expansions as a pack, and you can find the Living World packs on offer. The story order is: 

Base Game

Living World Season 1 video (it's no longer playable) 

Living World Season 2

Heart of Thorns

Living World Season 3

Path of Fire

Living World Season 4

To read the lore to Guild Wars 1 through to Living World Season 3, you can read The Story So Far.

Character Creation

Time to make some choices:

Region - unless you have a reason to do otherwise, select your home region for low lag. You cannot change region or play across regions, though guilds and mail work across regions.  You cannot easily change this later.

Server - the server has only one impact and that's on World vs World (which is Server vs Server PvP). If you want to do a lot of WvW, consider your server choice (check the forums for advice on this at the time). Else you can just pick a name. You can change this later, but it costs.

Race - this is purely an aesthetic choice in the long term - it does determine your starting city and early story, but ultimately the best choice is the one you want to look at the most. You cannot change this later.

Profession (class) - This determines how you will play the game. All the professions are viable in all content types, but not all specs of all classes. A class has a limited list of weapons they can use and each weapon has different skills. All classes have a melee and ranged option. Some classes can tank or heal, but this is largely only relevant in raids. You cannot change this later. Easy classes include the Necromancer, Warrior, Ranger and Guardian. The Elementalist and Engineer are the most challenging classes. The Revenant is only available with Heart of Thorns.

You then make some other choices that will impact a bit on your very early story, but really mean nothing later. 

Starting Out

The game will try to guide you to content. Let it. It will show you how the basic leveling experience works. There is a single main storyline you can follow, but that is not enough to level you up. The rest of the time you can just spend exploring the world and completing whatever content you come across. 

You are scaled to the level of lower level maps, so a map that's tagged as being for 15 to 25 will still give experience at 40 because you will be scaled down to 25. 

Hearts require you do do something until they are full. The heart will then sell you gear, which is the main source of gear while leveling. 

Hero Points give you points with which you can learn secondary skills. These don't change with your weapon (though other things may change them).

Experience is always awarded for all players involved in a kill or event, based on their participation level. Other players are always a good thing to come across.

When your inventory starts to fill, click on the cog in the top right hand corner and select Deposit All. This moves all crafting materials into your bank automatically. 

Your bank has two parts - the open slots and slots for crafting materials. You can store up to 250 of each crafting material in the crafting materials bank.

You can do dungeons as you level, but they can be challenging with lower level, undergeared players so its not always the best choice with a random group. Arah, for example, is a challenge with well geared level 80 players!

Each zone has a story of sorts, but not in the way that a traditional quest based MMO does. However, most have hidden things to find. 

Getting Gear

There are five levels of gear you will come across while you level, plus two more at end game: 

Grey/White - you can ignore this gear after the first couple of levels.

Blue - this is better than grey

Green - again, this is better than blue

Rare (yellow) - this gear is better than green

Exotic (orange) - this is the best gear you will come across during leveling. You can do almost all end game content with Exotic gear. 

Ascended (pink) - this is the best gear in the game stats wise. You can only get it at level 80. It takes a while, but you get to keep it forever and it is account bound, so you can move items between characters.

Legendary (purple) - this has the same stats as Ascended gear, but looks prettier. Legendary items normally have a cool visual effect and look. They are also account bound, and you can change the stat combination on them. So again, you can keep them forever. 

As well as your normal gear set, you will be able to have two weapon sets you can switch between in battle (for most classes) and you need a seperate weapon and an Aquabreather for underwater combat. 

Gathering, Crafting and Salvaging

You can learn two Crafting professions per character (you can add more with a gem store purchase). These can be changed for gold and you will keep the progress in the old profession if you deactivate and reactivate it.  Professions make gear, apart from Cooking. Cooking is hard to level at first, so don't rush into that one. Don't rush into crafting at all, in fact. All of the content you do while leveling is still a part of your end game, and if you are missing materials now, odds are you will have them later. Also, some low level materials are very expensive because they are used in high level gear.

You can Gather all the three types of items (ore, wood and plants) on a given character. All other materials drop from mobs. You need to buy Gathering Tools and equip them. They have a limited number of uses, so you will need to keep replacing them. They are cheap to buy and better ones are available as you level, so don't buy loads at first. 

You can also Salvage many items to gain materials. You buy Salvage kits for this. You nearly always want to Salvage Green/Blue items and low level items, but do check on the trading post. Near top level (68+), salvaging Rare and above can give you a crafting item called a Glob of Ectoplasm. You should salvage any Rare item that sells for less than a Glob of Ectoplasm (check the Black Lion Trading Post).

What do I need to buy from the gem store? 

The quick answer is nothing. You do not need to make any purchase to play the game. The only thing you will feel pressure to buy, in my experience, is bank slots. If you are playing the game enough that you feel desperate for bank space, then you won't really mind paying out a bit. In the first instance, you should sell stuff and stop hoarding it in your bank!

Other than that, its all completely optional. Its pretty outfits and cool things for lazy people. You can save a few silver by buying the everlasting Gathering tools, and you can buy the Copper-Fed Salvage-o-matic which saves you needing to buy low level Salvaging tools, but is probably more expensive.

On top of all that, you can buy gems for gold you make in game (if you spend a LOT of time playing). You can also exchange the other way around, but, because Ascended gear is fairly easy to come buy, it never reaches pay to win. Instead its pay to save a bit of time grinding.

Is Guild Wars 2 a grindy game?

Not really. A few things are a grind to do. Legendary gear is one hell of a grind. But, that is what makes them Legendary. And because there are no new levels or tiers of gear, you get to keep using them forever. So grind is commensurate with reward, and that holds true of the game as a whole. Also, the game has few ways to grind a specific thing. You can't really farm mobs for high level crafting materials effectively, and theres no one source of gold. Because of that, you can choose your poison. If you want to run the high value mining nodes every day, you can do that. Or, you can run Fractals, or farm events, or do any of the things you enjoy. In fact, most of the grinds force you to vary your content (you need to do some PvP for a legendary, for example).

Above all in Guild Wars 2, just have fun while you level. There is far less need to race to max level. An awful lot of the content you can do at end game is accessible long before you hit level 80. So enjoy the world. The Personal Story is not the strongest leveling content in an MMO, but no game beats Guild Wars 2 for the enjoyment you get from just exploring the world.