#askfara

Don't do this. I don't know you. I don't know your source of "verification". I am not going to spread your message and potentially endanger MY followers when I cannot personally verify who the fuck you are and if you're legit.

Not a bot? Don't act like one.

Stop sending me this shit. Please.

Hah! They want to stay private but said I could post about this:

I gave someone a crisis again because

My icon hasn't changed in like 3 years, and;

They didn't realize my icon has been Elixir's face this whole time.

I added a background color to the icon and they were like "!?!" in my inbox so Imma drop this thing again:

The porn bots are back with a new trick, much to the dismay of every living breathing being on this hellsite*. Mind your ask box, folks. Don't click any video/image previews or links, even from people you actively follow as they may have been compromised.

Enable 2FA, for the love of any higher power you may or may not believe in. It's in your settings. Looks like this:

As always, this is all advice from personal experience and I do not advise you take me 100% on my word because other folks could do this way better. I say "you" a lot but usually mean "in my experience". If you know me at all you'll be prepared for the tangents, if not this is your warning. ♥

Okay so this is actually a really interesting one for me, because I had a sort of.... Odd upbringing with regards to computers and typing. I was raised on my Nana's typewriter, frequently getting in trouble for doing "typed" school assignments without a computer. (She blessedly put a stop to that once she realized why I kept getting docked marks.)

We were formally taught using AlphaSmarts. Some folks from my generation will probably recognize these bad boys:

Needless to say, they weren't exactly stellar when it comes to training for WPM (words-per-minute). I digress.

Your concern about programs not working as well with adults as kids? Nah. This isn't like learning a new language, it's more like... Learning the controls in a video game. It's all hand-eye coordination! :D If I'm being honest I didn't learn how to type properly until I was a full-ass adult. I used to chicken-peck at the keys.

Just like speed in any skill (and I know, I know saying that's like a broken record) a good amount of practice goes a long way, and the way some folks train for speed won't work for everyone.

There's this tradeoff between speed and accuracy to consider with different kinds of typing.

You can type very quickly when going off the cuff, for example, because your brain is focused more on the words you're putting out in the moment rather than trying to process source text and translate it to your fingers. However, you're way more likely to make errors if you're not used to the speed yet.

In contrast, typing with a reference tends to go slower because of that extra layer of disconnect and increased focus on accurately duplicating your source material. Hand-eye coordination! :D

As an example: My speed going off the cuff is actually only about 90 WPM nowadays because of some medication side-effects, a bit higher when I'm really in a groove, whereas my speed working off a reference is around 60 WPM. Huge difference right? But both of these are at around 95% accuracy because the change in speed compensates for (what to me is) higher difficulty.

And I don't touch-type. Purists be damned.

(Pardon these explanations, they're not meant to be patronizing or anything, just accessibility for those who might not have known.)

Touch-typing is frequently described as the preferable, "best" way to type fast and efficiently. That's where your fingies are always on the home row (ASDF) and you just kinda clakkaclak without looking down.

Fast? Yeah.

Less errors? Sorta.

Potentially hard as shit to learn when you're not exactly neurotypical? Depending on if your brain is more chaotic or structured, yeaaaahhhhh...

I'm hybrid rather than a touch-typist, which means that while my hands remain in a mostly fixed place on the board (WASD for me, because gamer-brain), I still glance down occasionally to get my bearings as I go. It does lower my reaction time and speed, but touch-typing for me is an ugly error-prone mess because my hands 'slip' and I dysty yu[omh pmr lru pgg start typing one key off.

Depending on which method you use, you'll get there. Don't be afraid to look down and reorient yourself on the keys, and focus on accuracy first. If you get the accuracy down-pat, the speed's gonna follow.

So... Long story short, I guess that's my advice?

I'd say I'm at a solid 8, thank you for asking!

They were kind enough to give us until the end of the month to move all of our stuff back in. That has taken a LOAD of stress off, so it's not triggering my medical problems too badly.

Plus, since so many big furniture articles (such as the bed, bookcases, desks, etc) were destroyed, there's a lot less stuff to move as well. Silver linings and all that.

I can see the finish line. It feels good.

I'm like the Lorax, but potatoes.