#yolkcheeks writes

[ylkcheeeks]

ah, you have The Affliction!

I know this one, you should decide what it is you desire and then want it harder. Only in the present tense, of course, to avoid trapping yourself with the brass ring ever in view but out of reach. Take care you don’t speak your dreams aloud, for the devil may hear you and steal away your resolve, so you fall short of your goal. Actually you should talk through your plans with people, a second mind can often help discern what’s realistic, and they can help hold you accountable.

You should make a list. The list should go into these four quadrants. Actually this other set of quadrants. Actually don’t order it, just use different types of dots and dashes to indicate what’s what. Really, what you should do is buy another new notebook- the standard size is linked here we get a small commish if you click- and a new pack of pens. And probably some washi tape as well- you deserve a little treat.

This is the system for you. Or maybe it’s filling your calendar in color coded blocks of time until each day looks like a scarf. Or maybe it’s morning pages.

Don’t keep your phone by your bed. Don’t have any clocks or windows facing you if you want to remember your dreams. Don’t sleep like that you’ll hurt your back. Don’t forget to take your evening meds an hour before bedtime. Sleep with an eye mask and ocean waves. Sleep with potatoes in your socks to naturally free yourself from toxins. Sleep in silence, three feet above the covers.

If it takes five minutes, just do it now. If you have something you need to get done you need to just start immediately and work continuously until you’re done. Use a timer and take breaks every 25 minutes. Body doubling with someone else who is working is best. If you can’t self motivate you’re a failure, actually, so hot that down. Just don’t do the things which suck you out of the flow of time, dropping you unceremoniously into three AM, again.

I know your pain keeps you up at night and makes it hard to even move the ways you normally do, but have you tried exercising? Could you try more? Just live right in all areas first, then we can look into handling your pain.

Oh the lack of sleep is impacting your cognition- have you considered melatonin? You’re already taking it nightly? How much? Hm. Well, have you considered exercise? That could leave you tired out enough to overcome the insomnia!

Why didn’t you ask for help sooner? Why do you have to talk everything to death? Why are you so prickly with people just trying to help you?

How long do you think you can rely on your wit and aging charms to win you just enough luck? How are you so good at helping others at the very things you are not doing for yourself? How are you going to fare in the field if this is how you weather the training?

You know what?

I’m starting to think you’re just lazy.

[ylkcheeeks]

I mean it is kinda business! It is related to their work- specifically her publicity- and I am sure plenty of folks ask for things signed for a first time for expected fandom reasons. If I were writing it, I would probably go for slightly formal but also brief, something like

Hi [Mx?] Negovanlis (or assistant!),

A few years ago you & Ms. Bauman were kind enough to sign my copy of Carmilla at suchandsuch con. Unfortunately, that copy was among some things I lost in a fire recently, but is also one of the first movies I’ve been able to replace, and I would love to be able to receive your autograph again, at your convenience. I would be more than happy to cover return shipping, of course, and appreciate your consideration. [optional sentence or two about an upcoming project she’s in you’re hyped for? might as well give roses while you’re making an ask] Kind regards, [name but maybe also phone number as though it’s part of your signature? >:3 i am so helpful.]

especially given that on the Anne Rice to Seanan McGuire scale they seem more cool with fandom than not, it’s definitely worth a shot.

so like

what's the protocol on asking an actor if they might possibly re-sign something they signed for you years ago, after the original was destroyed in a fire? (willing to provide return postage myself, of course, and completely understanding if they can't or would prefer not to)

asking for me, because I can't find a non-business email address for Natasha Negovanlis

[ylkcheeeks]

Hot diggity damn not even halfway through this episode and I wanna add some THOUGHTS. You’ve been warned.

Slightly out of order.

First off, Miwa and Moe are such good friends. Also I have diagnosed them with Very Good Friends with each other. It’s hot out there, huh?

Poor Aoyama-kun. Baby boy, baby, can’t stop having nightmares about Evil. I, too, am tired yet keep trying to show up for my extracurriculars.

The Boys having a cry over soggy quiche.

He’s really fleshed out so nicely in this series. Like, I barely remembered he was in the manga, I was much more focused on the girls, but I am genuinely invested in him here and he feels like he knows he’s in a show but thinks it’s a j-drama.

Little business siblings 🍵 & 🍃 I want a petit mew mew of them playing mega-conglomerate as kids

Seriously fucking scary Quiche, they also turned his villain dial all the way up

Pie, who is that one liner for? For yourself? Cornball.

Okay so I really thought here that big bro 🍃 was gonna turn to Mint and ask her “how did you know?”

Ooh cute eyecatch hahahha

Total Psycho Quiche

Mint has learned nothing from her previous attempt to run away. Oh hey! It’s those two guys from Lain! Good to see them working.

HEY they transformed offscreen unfair uncool I wanted a triple

Okay Lettuce that was cool as fuck, I accept this exchange.

The mew lads fighting back! To! Back!

Pudding I don’t know what you’re doing but you’re doing great sweetie! 👏

Fukin hell Quiche. Fukin HELL Quiche

FUCK

damn okay pause I guess we are going there and I genuinely feel this need a moment

We’re halfway. This is. You need to understand, I didn’t get the anime when I was younger, just the manga, and while I know where things are going, this is my first really seeing them animated. By the time I was an adult and could seek out the anime on my own, I wasn’t motivated to, both due to the difficulty of access, and being a bit leery that I might not even like the sub on account of the clashing shades of pink used for Ichigo’s design there. To some extent Lettuce, too. Idk, it just didn’t feel like the manga to me, but rather than fully committing to the hints of sci fi space opera I see in those mange to anime translations, wound up in this middle ground that didn’t seem very thoughtful. I also grew up with the OG SM dub so I’m certainly not judging anyone loving OG TMM, just contextualizo my frame of reference.

Okay. Cool cool, really accurate sounds of how it feels to be choked, good job foley team!

[ylkcheeeks]

I was just watching this great YouTube video on myths from a worldbuilding perspective (well a few videos ago so I don’t have the link at hand, but I can find it if someone reminds me) and lately I’ve been watching (in addition to my usual worldbuilding, lore, and theorycrafting diet) a lot about mythology uhh historiography? like reconstructed myths and tracing things and all of that, largely focused on but not exclusively PIE related languages/cultures.

And I have been thinking a lot about syncretism, particularly this thread between Ashera/Inana/Isis/Mary and how while the monomyth thing is not right there are these interesting patterns in how people conceptualize themselves. And how the worldview of the first several thousand years of humans was superseded by a particularly dominant group like, redefining time, and how we think of ourselves and how we think of “recent” vs “long ago” but when I zoom out two thousand years and change is not that long like, even at a human scale. And we’ve still done, you know, a lot, but I am so interested in those earlier years of innovation and change and stories, and how the stories we have- of our history and world and so on, not just myths- define how we engage with the world. And how we engage with the world defines our stories.

And I think about how a lot of religious and uh, what’s the word for about the creation of everything? Like the opposite of eschatological thought? Anyhow a lot of the things humans have said or thought as part of understanding our world has been from a perspective of understanding the world as a thing we are part of, and of seeing in a very real way the importance of the sun to human life, and all these natural phenomena.

And I was thinking about geocentrism and flat earthers and people who do want to immensities the eschaton, speaking of (ha) and these people who are losing their shit on the daily to a roulette of conspiracies which are just the satanic panic with a hasty coat of paint, and like, also the baby billionaire Hawaiian shirt guy turned war profiteer getting a cute profile on NPR, and various billionaires who would pass out from excitement if they could be B&L from Wall-E and restore geocentrism by privatizing the galaxy.

I feel like there’s some sort of story seed here, about the conflict between the people who are excited for serfdom 2.0: now in orbit & want to inception the global unconscious, using the anxieties of a certain flavor of conservative ideology to push the needle, and blah blah blah I would like to die of natural causes at an advanced age under civilized healthcare leaving a better planet than I was granted. So not even a seed I guess. But who knows maybe I’ll read this later and think of more.

[ylkcheeeks]

shadows and bugs, you want to show me your stuff, I can see your body vibrating with your intensity of emotion, and it’s entwined with love. You’re looking at your stuff and it’s exciting and you’re showing me your stuff because you love me, and because you love me it’s even more exciting. Here we both are, looking at your stuff! It’s so cool.

You get wrapped up in how cool it is and, you know, I certainly can’t fault you that. So I settle myself down, not as early as I hoped but not as bad as I have been. And you’re suddenly Very Present and throwing yourself at me, crying because you don’t want it to be bedtime. You have other ideas: triling and galloping down the stairs at high speed but being sure to thud on each step, then hiding in the darkness wild-eyed hoping I will understand that chasing you is a much better idea! Unfortunately my silly simian skeleton insists on some Be Flat Time, so ends this stanza of how you just are.

And I feel so much ferklempt frubbly tension, because you’re being super loud and going to wake the dead and I do not desire the bullshit, but also I love you so much I am so honored to have this wonderful being who wants attention from me specifically, who has her own habits and rituals around me which- though clearly expressions of affection given your utter lack of poker face- I do not understand the origin nor purpose (to whatever degree there is one), who

wants to spend time together doing stuff she likes, showing me stuff she’s interested in, like shadows and bugs