GREAT WHITE OR GO HOME

Like, seriously, women should be educated about their own bodies.

So if you're on the other side of 45 and suddenly everything is twice as difficult, you get more migraines, your blood pressure goes funny, you can't sleep and you feel like your entire psyche is unstable, you might be experiencing perimenopause. My gyn was like,oh, like think of it like reverse puberty, your entire body rearranges itself. I was like, Great, nobody ever told me it can be this bad. My GP didn't even ask me about my period or hormone levels or anything. He just told me I was probably depressed and sent me to a psychiatrist, who also didn't ask about my period or my hormones. If I hadn't experienced something akin to postpartum depression and therefore know what my body does when its hormones are out of whack, I would have had no idea.

Seriously, nobody tells you how much hormones fuck you up as a woman. Nobody prepares you for this.

I've been trying to talk openly about what's fucking me up right now, and I've discovered that it's a lot more common than I thought it was. I feel like every phase of life finds another way to fuck women over. Puberty: have fun with your period as it adjusts itself. Childbirth: prepare for a hormonal rollercoaster. PMS: oh, it can get BAD. Like, BAD. After birth: hormones out of whack for months, maybe longer. Perimenopause: can fuck up everything. Like literally everything. Osteoporosis is also hormonal. Post menopause: supposedly things get better, but they don't have to.

And I feel like we're left pretty alone dealing with all of it. And we know so little about it that we're left wondering why suddenly nothing works anymore. So we flail about and feel terrible about our sudden inability to cope with life, when it's in fact our bodies screwing with us. Again.

(Tags via @romanceyourdemons)

Extremely correct response, leaving out the inevitable debacle over citizens declaring counterfeit genders in order to have rarer pronoun pins to sell to collectors in the underground pronoun market.

Dibbler, only mildly discouraged, eventually realizes he can sell embellishments for your pronoun pin, which he claims will upgrade your gender.

Also of note is that there are no cops present at Ankh-Morpork Pride. This is not because they aren't welcome (everyone knows Nobby is as kinky as they come), but because the festivities include throwing bricks at the City Watch building and they are busy trying to make sure they still have a place to work the next day. The Night Watch prepares each year with a barricade, and pre-marriage Vimes always collects the good bricks so he can save for a house. Nobody is really sure where the tradition came from, but it's good fun and usually nobody gets hurt too badly.

Moist von lipwig would have pride-themed stamps made; these would inevitably have some kind of issue, which would create some outrage and ultimately make the stamps more valuable as collectors' items.

I don't get the impression that Ankh Morpork ever had anti-sodomy or crossdressing laws, so I don't think the queer community's history with the police would be the same as it is in the real world. Especially because Cheery Littlebottom literally started the Dwarf trans/feminism movement as an officer of the Watch, with the Watch's support.

Dibbler would totally sell pride flags with the wrong colors (and then insist it was the "new, updated version" if anyone questioned him)

The nobility are all scandalized, meanwhile the Seamstresses Guild has a float in the parade

Adora Belle Dearheart is deeply involved with at least one queer organization and is one of the main organizers of the Pride festival, but refuses to answer any questions about why

Ridcully decides the wizards should be involved, and Ponder Stibbons should make a float and organize the refreshments for them to eat while riding on the float. Ridcully's concept of allyship is loudly saying, "Well done, that man!" and pointing at anyone he thinks is exhibiting particularly queer behavior.

Madam Sharn and Pepe release a whole new line of Pride-themed chainmail

Bengo Macarona is embraced as a gay icon

Suddenly being smacked in the middle of this by the fact Vetinari was disappointed Vimes didn't properly handcuff him and made a note to get some proper shackles for next time

🌱 the peacemaker spirit 🌱

i cant be normal about anything i like ever . it has to consume me like evil mold

Alright I'm giving in and making a post because I'm having feels about Koji and Akira's relationship.

They have such a strong bond. I love their banter and their little inside jokes about his concierge passing messages to and from his daughter. Akira teases him about having good karma. They even do their hair the same way with those shiny black wraps okay!

Look at how cute they're smiling:

Seeing each other is the bright spot in their day, I bet.

Then Koji gets triggered by criticism of John and goes full Asian Dad and oh boy Akira knows she's in trouble—

But he has either read some parenting books or seen enough movies to know what happens when you fight with loved ones while facing imminent danger, and catches Akira before she runs off to let her know that he loves her: "Please tell my daughter that I look forward to our dinner."

Look at this smile.

She's still worried, still upset, but the smile just comes out and she can't help it cause it's her dad trying to make things up to her by being funny. (Thank you Rina Sawayama for your great acting.)

She gives him a lot of puppy eyed looks throughout their appearance and I think Koji knows that, despite being all grown up, she still needs him a lot.

Then comes the wonderful Koji-John reunion scene with its banging one-liners. Whenever it comes to John though, Koji goes off his rocker a bit and drops all his parenting books.

Akira is basically begging him not to confront the High Table and he hardly even LOOKS at her before throwing off her hold on him and stalking off. Oofs.

Even John knows that he has stirred up some shit between father and daughter and he's never going to get out of Akira's bad books:

When Koji says, "Stay with Mr Wick", it's really kind of ambiguous whether he's asking Akira to protect John (haha I know but the Osaka Continental has to protect its guests and Akira can handle herself) or John to protect Akira (refer to John's "oh shit" face above). The point is, Koji puts his two most important people together and trusts that they will help each other make it out alive.

On a side note, I'm still laughing at how Koji and John actually fistbump each other before they part.

Once John is out of the picture, Koji picks up his parenting books again:

But he's reading from the samurai edition unfortunately. Akira knows that he's going off to die but not even the best puppy eyes will stop Koji from following his code of honour to the end.

Koji does that firm shake of their clasped hands like: You got this, Akira. Complete confidence in her. Then it's that fight... that amazing fight...

"Just take care of your daughter," Caine says.

"I am."

What do you mean, "I am"?? *shakes Koji*

Option 1: he's showing her the honourable way to live and die. I appreciate the spirit but that's not really taking care of your daughter Koji!! Caine definitely disagrees.

Option 2: he knows he's a dead man. He's been shot, he's been stabbed, and he's in so much pain he can hardly talk. If Akira's going to make an escape, she needs to do it without dragging his dead weight with her. She's never going to leave him behind willingly though, if there's even the slightest chance she could save him—so he has to die.

And he does.

I think nothing needs to be said about the way she holds him.

Strange Homes Around the World

The Upside Down House in Poland

The Aura Residence in Laranca, Cyprus

UFO-style houses in Sanjhih, Taiwan

Stone Age home in Portugal

The Auto Residence in Salzburg, Austria

Going through my old folders and finding things I never finished and at this point never will, just putting them here to archive properly. The comic (roughly) reads: panel 1: (monoco) There you are! p2 : (monoco) It's so good to see you again. p3: (monocos back crack swinging verso around) p4: (verso) Told you you're too old (to swing me around), Monoco. Monoco: LIES. LIES AND SLANDER. ow... owow

Don’t use a beta. 

Beta readers aren’t for everyone, and that’s totally okay! The times when I’m recommending it are for people who are unsure about something or are looking for help. If you’re feeling pretty okay about where your story’s at, then there’s no need to stress yourself out at all. 

Betas are great for people who like to collaborate. They’re helpful for people who are writing in a language they’re still learning. They’re a great resource for writers who are exploring characters or situations that they’re personally unfamiliar with. They can help you get past a mental block or check your story for canon consistency. They can even just look for typos. 

If you don’t need that kind of help or if asking for it hurts more than it helps, then please don’t feel like you have to do it. 

My problem with betas isn’t anxiety, it’s impatience. Once I’ve written something, I just want to post it right away. If I have to wait more than maybe 10 minutes, I start to go a little bit nuts. That makes getting a beta almost impossible. I’ve made the conscious decision that I’m okay with typos and spelling mistakes and maybe not being canon compliant because I’m just having fun writing stories about interesting characters.

I had someone offer to beta read mine as a gift, and their extremely correct, no fragments instincts did NOT work with my taste in colloquial teenage dialogue 😆 so I found somebody who would look for what I wanted help with--scenes where lots was happening, to make sure it was clear who was talking/where everyone was/what they were doing

Likewise only positive feedback doesn’t leave room for your story to grow.

There are lots of ways to beta!

My specific blurb:

In general I prefer if: You as a writer have clear questions for your beta, which can be anything from “are the vibes off? Is this ready to publish? What scenes are cool?” to “I’m thinking about X subplot, would it add to the story? Should I delete this subplot that is getting out of hand?”

Having specific aspects of your work that you want feedback on helps you as an author analyze your story for weak points, and get an outside pair of eyes on what you think the weak points are. You know the strengths of your story and if a beta doesn’t like something that you think is a strength, it’s not a good fit. Whole story critique on things you like is likewise not helpful. I believe you get the most bang for your buck out of focused critique.

And as a beta, I should be able to give balanced feedback, giving aspects of a story that work well and aspects that don’t work as well. I should be able to look past my personal preferences on stories to focus on the stories and themes you want to explore in this story, and put aside what I want the story to be, focusing on what you as the author want the story to be.

Setting boundaries and expectations is key to success in sex and in beta reading!

I personally tend more toward critic than cheerleader: I will engage seriously with the themes of your work, and will tell you what bits of writing works to reinforce them & which bits don’t do that. Some people feel really unsure of their own work and need someone to tell them that it’s good, and that’s valid! But if that’s you, I may not be your cup of tea.

I tend break betaing down by:

-high level: here to talk ideas, concepts, plot structure, themes, settings. This can include things like “why is the story set in X instead of Y? Why does this character have or not have screentime? What is character J’s motivation? What plot event led to this character being this way? What is the central theme or idea you’re trying to convey here? how do these parts come together to create that scene?”

-mid level: discuss structure of individual scenes, dialogue, stage directions. Ask about your prose, descriptions of settings, characters, metaphors, details!

-low-level: line-by-line adjusting punctuation, dialogue tags, word choice, suggesting sentence changes

I can do a quick read-through high level, mid and low level take more time, and can also apply all these at once!

I tend to write longfic & my work is at: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abigailnicole/pseuds/ailuridae

If you don’t like my fic, you probably won’t like my beta style!

I tend to focus on:

- does this scene advance the plot?

- is there Setting, does this story have a physical sense of grounding?

- physical details across an entire work

- dialogue flow & tags

Hopefully these will be helpful to you!