Perfectly Imperfect

many fandoms are outside my own interest but knowing that they’re there and thriving is very comforting

Aww, I'm so glad! I (Mod Ragna) follow a few specific blogs that advertise fandom events and get notifications for them specifically to boost stuff for other smaller events since we have such a huge assortment of fandom interests across the 2,368 (!!!) followers of this blog. We've benefited from advertising like that for years and I feel it's only proper to return the favor, you know?

But it is definitely a wonderful thing to see, I agree. It's easy to lose sight of the broader picture of how big fandom is as a whole sometimes, and so it's nice to give a glimpse into potential things people could get into as a way to interact with the fandoms they're into. I especially love reblogging multifandom writing and events for this just so people can read and see an assortment of stuff and maybe discover new fandoms they might want to get into.

Buy the REALLY GOOD yarn to make my dream projects.

Tip 200% every time I go out to eat or have food delivered.

Go to see the friends I've made online who live in fucking Narnia or some shit.

Pay off all my and my mother's medical debt.

But no, capitalism and colonialism have taught us that a decent living amounts to being rich. Every single thing that is described by these prevs should never have been made unatainable. Capitalism and colonialism have brainwashed us into thinking that we live in an economy and not a society, so we don't need to tax the rich to fund society.

Each of the lyrics comes from an old-time hickory song for fiddles, and is a lyric from that corresponding song.

"Fire on the Mountain" --> "Fire on the Mountain, run boys run"

Fire On The Mountain - Fiddle Player POV

"The House of the Rising Sun" --> "The Devil's in the house of the rising sun"

House of the Rising Sun

"Ida Red" --> "Chicken in the bread pan peckin' out dough"

Ida Red - Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys

"Granny Will Your Dog Bite" --> "Granny does your dog bite? 'No child, no'."

FTC #149 Granny Will Your Dog Bite

And for your furthered education, The Mountain Whipporwill.

in a time before things like radios and record players, every time you heard music was because there was somebody in the room with you playing an instrument. and many, many, many social events involved dancing, which requires music. so, if you're planning any kind of gathering in the american south or appalachia, you need to find a fiddler. and the fiddler's job is to play music that everybody knows and likes and can dance to.

the mistake The Devil makes in his bet with Johnny is that he misinterprets the contest as being about technical ability, so he has this big flashy song. he plays fast and impressively with a band of demons playing unfamiliar instruments in unfamiliar rhythms. he's definitely more skilled at playing than Johnny, and thinks he has it in the bag.

I present to you: the floating ao3 comment box!

From what I've seen, a big problem for many people is that once you reach the comments at the bottom of a fic, your memory of it miraculously disappears. Anything you wanted to say is stuck ten paragraphs ago, and you barely remember what you thought while reading. This fixes that!

I'll give a little explanation on the features and how it works, but if you want to skip all that, here's the link.

Edit: Yes, this also works on mobile!

The extension is visible as a small blue box in the upper left corner.

(Side note: The green colouring is not from the extension, that's me.)

If you click on it, you open a comment box window at the bottom of your screen but not at the bottom of the fic. I opened my own fic for demonstrative purposes.

The website also gives explanations on how exactly it functions, but I'll summarize regardless.

insert selection -> if you highlight a sentence in the fic it will be added in italics to the comment box

add to comment box -> once you're done writing your comment, you click this button and the entire thing will automatically copied to the ao3 comment box

delete -> self explanatory

on mulitchapter fics, you will be given the option to either add the comment to just the current chapter or the entire fic

The best part? You can simply close the window the same way you opened it and your progress will automatically be saved. So you can open it, comment on a paragraph, and then close it and keep reading without having the box in your face.

and then, two months later....

me: yeah i know, they’re all primary colors, it’s perfect

When you go for an MLS (Master’s of Library Science, which is a thing, and which is usually required for “professional-level” library work [which is also a weird and contentious concept that I won’t go into here]), one of the things you study is the organization of information. This deals with how to determine what a book or other material is “about"—a concept we tongue-in-cheek call “aboutness"—and how to convey that to a potential user of the item and make it easy for them to find. Things like keywords and subject headings, do I put this book about how often wild birds attack aerial drones in with books about birds or with books about technology, if its a fictional novel do I put fantasy in it’s own section or mix it in with all of the other fiction, so on and so on.

OP is organizing books by how they would look for them. OP’s partner is thinking in terms of aboutness. This is a system that works for OP because it’s their personal library: they know basically what books they own and they only own books that are relevant to them, and if they know what the book looks like, that can be a quick way to find it.

In a library that assumes the public (or people who do not own that particular collection of books) are using the collection, that doesn’t work. Books are often re-issued in multiple covers, or re-bound in new covers when they get worn out, and if the user doesn’t know what the book looks like or is expecting a different cover, they’re lost. That’s why non-personal libraries used standardized cataloging systems like the Dewey Decimal System or Library of Congress System to organize a book by what it’s “about”, and then put books about the same or similar topics together, marked with labels and signage so a person unfamiliar with the book or collection can find their way to it.

Basically, OP’s system works for their own personal library, because it’s best suited to how the primary user—OP themselves—looks for books. OP’s librarian partner is coming from a background of thinking in terms of a public-facing collection, where aboutness is the key criteria and communicating it to a user unfamiliar with the collection is the priority.

The Dry Season

Melissa Febos

Listen on Audiobook

In the wake of a catastrophic two-year relationship, Melissa Febos decided to take a break: For three months she would abstain from dating, relationships, and sex. Her friends were amused. Did she really think three months was a long time? But to Febos, it was. Ever since her teens, she had been in one relationship after another with men and women. As she puts it, she could trace a “daisy chain of romances” from her adolescence to her midthirties. Finally, she would carve out time to focus on herself and examine the patterns that had produced her midlife disaster. Over those first few months, she gleaned insights into her past and awoke to the joys of being single. She decided to extend her celibacy, not knowing it would become the most fulfilling and sensual year of her life. No longer defined by her romantic pursuits, she learned to relish the delights of solitude, the thrill of living on her own terms, the distinct pleasures unmediated by lovers, and the freedom to pursue her ideals without distraction or guilt. Bringing her own experiences into conversation with those of women throughout history—from eleventh-century mystic Hildegard von Bingen, Virginia Woolf, and Octavia Butler to the Shakers and Sappho—Febos situates her story within a newfound lineage of role models who unapologetically pursued their ambitions and ideals.

By abstaining from all forms of romantic entanglement, Febos began to see her life and her self-worth in a radical, new way. Her year of divestment transformed her relationships with friends and peers, her spirituality, her creative practice, and, most of all, her relationship to herself. Blending intimate personal narrative and incisive cultural criticism, The Dry Season tells a story that’s as much about celibacy as its inverse: pleasure, desire, fulfillment. Infused with fearless honesty and keen intellect, it’s the memoir of a woman learning to live at the center of her own story, and a much-needed catalyst for a new conversation around sex and love.

My bf and I are trying to pull together money for first and last on an apartment as soon as we possibly can

Both of us are in less than ideal situations, with me living precariously with family and him having no fixed place to live

We have a place lined up, but we need to pay first and last month's rent in order to secure it, and we need to do so as fast as possible

If anyone can help out, we take donations over PayPal or e-transfer (you can DM for e-transfer info)

I do writing commissions on Ko-fi, where you can also donate

We have to put together a total of 3200 CAD so obviously this is pretty stressful, and any and all help would be much appreciated!

I'm going to update this post with both the amount of any donations we receive, and the amounts of our paychecks when we get them, so the total raised will reflect the complete amount of money that we have set aside as opposed to only showing what's been donated (to avoid any confusion). I also applied for a government assistance program for first and last, which would take care of about 1000-1600 CAD, so I'll include that if I am able to get it

If you can help, it means the world to us

I'm barely getting enough shifts to cover rent, so we haven't been able to make payments on the debt lately

Please help if you're able to, it really does make a huge difference to us! ❤️

So, as much as we're working towards paying off the overall debt, the 180 CAD takes precedence, and I could really use help as I'm almost out of my meds

I feel awful always asking for help on here, but my financial situation is unstable, and every dollar counts

Please please please lend a hand if you're able to!

For the "crime" of not wanting to be tracked/have ads pissed into your eyeballs 24/7.

Even if you've paid for the "privilege" of the latter.

IF YOU USE A DESKTOP PC OR LAPTOP, TRY INVIDIOUS

https://invidious.io/