I Just Wanna Nerd Out

ohh so impossible. so so impossible. okay first step is to not be mid-depressive episode. if that's squared away:

caffeinate

change your environment

impose accountability. i recommend the strategy that i recommend to my undergrads on peer review workshop days: choose someone who seems capable of psychologically damaging you.

accountability but make it immediate. i will cowork with friends and we'll start by saying, in this 40m session i will.... and then if i don't do the thing i will have to explain myself. oof.

accountability but make it immediate, deranged, and panoptic. in moments of true desperation my virtual coworking friend and i will sometimes share our screens so we can actively surveil each other.

make it silly

break it up. there was a period last spring where i was KILLING it at stardewdoro, which is when you play one day of stardew valley and then do one task from your list, ad infinitum. this does require you to:

lower your standards, especially for quantity--sometimes i cannot face the Big Task but if i tell myself, actually the goal is not "start the chapter," the goal is

i am vastly more likely to attempt it. i made eye contact this morning and that got me started on making my tbr list, which is a separate task that is now less of a Thing because i already have it started.

what's keeping out practically every disease, infection, and contamination? skin

what's responsible for 90% of cooling you down when it's hot outside? skin

what can absorb radiation from the goddamn sun and somehow you only get hotter for it? skin

what organ can you decorate with paint, cosmetics, tattoos, and also use as a to-do list when you've got your wrist and a sharpie? SKIN BABEYYYY

practically every organ is annoying in some way. the human body is cursed. every bone and muscle is built spitefully and your immune system is halfway trying to kill you. but skin? skin is trying its very best and it's doing a great job of it. skin is healing up after the most fucked up stuff imaginable and growing back twice as strong because it loves you and wants to protect you. this is not a shitpost i just genuinely want more people to take a second to appreciate something about themselves they've always taken for granted

“Grace says he would like half of dome to be water.”

“Oh, is necessary for humans to have large amounts of water question?”

Small Eridian equivalent of a sigh. “No. Not needed for life. In fact Grace will die if he falls in water and does not get out.”

“Tell him we give him water in containers that won't kill him. Lots lots lots of water on Erid for Grace to drink.”

“No. Grace say he want water on ground. Also want it with excess sodium chloride compound so it will be unhealthy for drink.”

“Grace want this liquid for celebration.”

“Of course.” They scan it. “You have wrong liquid. This contain compounds which are poisonous for humans.”

“Yes yes yes. Grace say humans like feeling of being slightly poisoned.”

step 1.

Go to skins tab

step 2.

create site skin (not work skin!! Site skin)

step 3.

This is where the magic happens.

you’re only interested in that big box (though you will have to give your skin an unique title)

in there, you paste this:

(This just an example, obviously)

.blurb:has(a:is( [href*="*s*reader" i], [href*="*s*you" i], [href*="goncharov" i], [href*="goncharov*s*katya" i], [href*="goncharov%20dies" i], [href*="top%20goncharov" i])) {   display: none !important; }

in my method, if I want to filter something new, I'll duplicate a line of this code like such (comma at the end is important)

[href*="goncharov" i],

temporarily, it'll look like this:

.blurb:has(a:is( [href*="*s*reader" i], [href*="*s*you" i], [href*="goncharov" i], [href*="goncharov" i], [href*="goncharov*s*katya" i], [href*="goncharov%20dies" i], [href*="top%20goncharov" i])) {   display: none !important; }

and now I replace that duplicate with whatever tag I want to mute, replacing only what is inside quotation marks, like so:

[href*="piss" i],

and now it looks like this

.blurb:has(a:is( [href*="*s*reader" i], [href*="*s*you" i], [href*="piss" i], [href*="goncharov" i], [href*="goncharov*s*katya" i], [href*="goncharov%20dies" i], [href*="top%20goncharov" i])) {   display: none !important; }

Mind that you replace spaces with %20 and slash with *s*. For example, "coffeshop au" won't filter it; "coffeeshop%20au" will. Similarly "/reader" won't work, and "*s*reader" will. Remember, only write inside the quotation marks. You can also copy the tags you want to filter directly from your browser’s search bar, then they’re already formatted correctly, like:

And presto, save your site skin, use it, and you will forever filter anything you want. You can add more tags to filter any time you want.

This, as an enabled site skin, will work across all your devices. Mind that the filtered works are hidden, but still count into the 20 fics per page that ao3 offers. Therefore if you're, like me, terminally picky about fic, you might end up with 3 works per page.

Is this nice, clean coding? Probably not. But it works!

I know it doesn't help with tumblr experience, but you can make ao3 way smoother!

Bonus reading:

very good ao3 writeup on all the skin filtering possibilities

This and more, on reddit