a nora borealis

“Sigils, Ciphers and Scripts: History and Graphic Function of Magick Symbols” by M. B. Jackson (2013) - selected plates.

This book is highly recommended - it packs a very large amount of accurate information into its 64 pages.

“The world is language” - Terence McKenna.

WHERE ARE THESE PAGES WHEN I NEED THEM?!

Trakoclock asked:

Hey, if you don’t mind sharing, I’ve always wondered how you got that soft celling look on your characters in your comic. Any tips? I’m currently working on my own comic and I kind of want to go for a less harsh form of cell shading. Thanks!

GREETINGS AND SALUTATIONS

ALLÔ → ‘hello’ ↳ appropriate for answering the phone BIENVENUE → ‘welcome’ ↳ appropriate for greeting guests BONJOUR → ‘hello’ ↳ literal translation is ‘good day’ (‘bon’ good + ‘jour’ day) ↳ appropriate in formal and casual settings ↳ appropriate for morning and afternoon BONSOIR → ‘hello’ ↳ literal translation is ‘good evening’ (‘bon’ good + ‘soir’ evening) ↳ appropriate in formal and casual settings ↳ appropriate in the evening HÉ → ‘hey’ ↳ when used in conjunction with ‘là’ (‘hé là!’), it means ‘hey there!’ ↳ appropriate in casual settings SALUT → ‘bye/hi’ ↳ appropriate in casual settings

A BIENTÔT → ‘see you soon’ À PLUS TARD → ‘see you later’ ↳ informal, but can be made even more informal by just saying ‘à plus’ ADIEU → ‘goodbye forever’ ↳ used for people you’ll never see or speak to again AU REVOIR → ‘goodbye’ ↳ literal translation is ‘to see/meet again’ (‘au’ to + ‘revoir’ see/meet again), so you’re really saying ‘until i see you again!’ ↳ appropriate in formal and casual settings BONNE NUIT → ‘goodnight’ ↳ literal translation is ‘good night’ (‘bonne’ good + ‘nuit’ night) ↳ appropriate in formal and casual settings ↳ appropriate at night PASSEZ UNE BONNE JOURNÉE → ‘have a good day’ ↳ formal, but can be made informal by just saying ‘bonne journée’ SALUT → ‘bye/hi’ ↳ appropriate in casual settings

SUBJECT PRONOUNS

‘vous’ and ‘tu’ mean ‘you’. the difference is the context in which you use them. to put it simply: ‘vous’ is formal and used for multiple people, and ‘tu’ is informal. read here for more info.

INTRODUCTIONS

ÇA VA? → ‘How are you?’ ↳ learn how to respond here COMMENT ALLEZ-VOUS? → ‘How are you?’ ↳ learn how to respond here COMMENT T’APPELLES-TU? → ‘What’s your name?’ COMMENT VOUS APPELEZ-VOUS? → ‘What’s your name?’ ELLE S’APPELLE → ‘Her name is…’ ENCHANTÉ → ‘Nice to meet you.’ ↳ used when the speaker is a man ENCHANTÉE → ‘Nice to meet you.’ ↳ used when the speaker is a woman  IL S’APPELLE → ‘His name is…’ JE M’APPELLE… → ‘My name is…’ JE SUIS… → ‘I am…’ MON NOM EST… → ‘My last name is…’ MON PRÉNOM EST… → ‘My first name is…’ MON SURNOM EST… → ‘My nickname is…’ VOICI → ‘This is…’

EMOTING AND PHRASES

C’EST PAS GRAVE → ‘No problem.’ EMBRASSE-MOI → ‘Kiss me.’ FERME-LA → ‘Shut up.’ JE NE SAIS PAS → ‘I don’t know.’ JE SUIS DÉSOLÉ → ‘I’m sorry.’ ↳ used when the speaker is a man  JE SUIS DÉSOLÉE → ‘I’m sorry.’ ↳ used when the speaker is a woman   JE T’AIME → ‘I love you.’ JE T’AIME POUR TOUJOURS → ‘I love you forever.’ JE TE DÉTESTE → ‘I hate you.’ QU’EST-CE QUE JE FERAIS SANS TOI? → ‘What would I do without you?’ T’EN FAIS PAS → ‘Don’t worry about it.’ TU AS DE TRÈS BEAUX YEUX → ‘You have beautiful eyes.’ TU ME MANQUES → ‘I miss you.’ VOUS ME MANQUEZ → ‘I miss you.’

OUTSIDE RESOURCES

french numbers

french days and months

1)     Coffee shop AU

i)       Barista and person who has a ridiculous coffee order

ii)      I’m worried about your coffee dependency

iii)     you accidentally poured boiling hot coffee over me so you’re responsible for taking me to A&E

iv)     you give me a different fake name every time you come into starbucks and I just want to know your real name bc ur cute but here I am scrawling “batman” onto your stupid cappuccino

2)      Flower shop AU

i)       You buy a weird amount of flowers and I’m concerned as to why

ii)      I’m allergic to flowers but I work in a flower shop – you’re a customer who’s very confused as to why I’d do that

iii)     (this is also a good way to incorporate flower meanings eg, buying certain colours/types for person to represent feelings etc.)

3)      Library AU

i)       You’re overdue on this book and I want it so I’m tracking u the fuck down

ii)      I work in the library and I’m a little concerned for your health bc you never stop studying

iii)     The library’s pretty empty save for you and me and OH that couple making out loudly in the shelves somewhere

4)      Awful first time meeting

i)       I accidentally punched you in the face when I was too overexcited about something

ii)      I thought you were my friend who’s just done something awful to me (read: cut my hair while I slept, dyed all of my clothes pink, etc. etc.) because you look similar from behind so I stormed up to you and shoved you from behind while calling you an asshole

iii)     You get the gist to this one

iv)     Oooh when you told me your name I thought you were joking because it’s fucking awful and I made a joke about it and things got awkward real fucking fast (perfect for a Hannibal au just saying)

5)      Weird places to meet/awkward meetings in general

i)       We live in the same block of flats but haven’t ever talked and Sunday morning we were both doing the walk of shame and had to stand in the lift together

ii)      “okay I know that being in the woods at 2am is a weird thing to be doing but my friend called me and- wait, why are you in the woods at 2am, fuck I’m going to die aren’t I?”

iii)     A personal favourite of mine – first day at a new job and oh fuck my boss is the person I drunkenly hooked up with last weekend/night

iv)     We keep accidentally running into each other I’m not a stalker I swear

v)      You live across from me in our apartments and we smile when we see each other but we don’t really know each other and oh you’re the stripper at my friend’s stag do/hen night fuck this is really uncomfortable

vi)     “My shower’s broken but I’ve got a date tonight could I possibly use your shower please?” “Oh sure (neighbour that I’ve been crushing on for the past six months) of course you can use my shower to get ready for your date (fuck fuck fuck)”

6)      Friends to romance – pining and all that wonderful shit

i)       You’ve got a date tonight and you asked for advice on what to wear but I’m so in love with you and damn you look good in the outfit I picked out for you

ii)      I really like you but you’re my best friend’s ex

iii)     You’ve liked me for ages and were really obvious about it and I didn’t like all the attention but now you’re over me I really miss it and fuck I think I like you too?

iv)     Somewhere along the way of getting into bar fights together, staying up all night with movie marathons, other friendship things, I’ve fallen in love with you but oh my god this could ruin EVERYTHING

v)      Friends with benefits oh wait I like you

7)      FAKE DATING HOLY SHIT I LIVE FOR THIS

i)       It’s my highschool reunion and I need a hot date so I can rub it in the faces of the people who hated me

ii)      My homophobic parents are coming to visit will you pretend to date me as an extra “fuck you”?

iii)     There’s a person who won’t stop bugging me will you pretend to be my partner so that they’ll fuck off?

iv)     I told my sister I have a boyfriend so she’d stop trying to set me up with people but now she’s coming to visit and I’m in too deep I need a fake boyf ASAP

8)      Soulmate aus

i)       The first words your true love(s) will say to you are tattooed on you and why the fuck are their first words something really ridiculous like ‘I’ll pay you a tenner to punch me in the face’ or ‘quick what’s your favourite animal’ or ‘fucking shit hell holy fuck wow oh my god jesus h Christ fuck me’ etc. or even worse a really ridiculous song lyric like  the opening lines of uptown funk or a high school musical song or smthing did you have to serenade me the first time you saw me asshole?

ii)      You get an ‘impression’ of your soulmate when you turn 18 or something but all I got was a strong smell of bananas or an overwhelming feeling that Thatcher was a good prime minister or an image in my mind of a fucking unicorn

iii)     The more ridiculous the better actually

iv)     Something like whenever your soulmate sings a duet you can’t help but join in and my fucking soulmate is in a goddamn band but I can’t sing for shit

v)      Or maybe something like soulmates always sneeze at the same time and I cant be sure but me and this kid in my French class just sneezed at the same time are we soulmates or was it a coincidence (proceed w character trying to make themselves sneeze around said person to see what’s what)

9)      Alternate universes for real

i)       Mermaids

ii)      Siren and asexual pirate who doesn’t understand why all his crew are losing their shit that person has a nice voice sure but what the fuck is happening

iii)     Hogwarts

iv)     We live in a world where the greek gods are real and you went and got yourself cursed and now I have to go on a fucking quest to sort this shit out why do I love you again?

v)      Pacific rim au (either they’re drift compatible or one of them is a ranger and the other stresses constantly bc what if they die yes I have read a fic like this no I didn’t come up with this one but it’s fucking good) (also if you haven’t seen that film go watch it now)

vi)     Literally any movie or book universe you like tbh just go for it

10)   Other aus that I like

i)       I wanted to go on the ferris wheel but there has to be two people to a cart come on random person let’s go oh wait are we stuck at the top? Fuck

ii)      We work in the same office and you have a goddamn squeaky chair and you wONT FUCKING STOP SQUEAKING IT BECAUSE YOU KNOW IT ANNOYS ME

iii)     Our mutual friend set us up on a blind date and I thought I’d hate it but you’re actually… kind of funny? But because I expected to hate it in no way am I going to let you change my mind just because you’re gorgeous and funny and intelligent oh no my friend is not winning this

iv)     It started to snow and I’m the only one of our friends who would go outside with you – I soon found out why none of the others would go out in the snow with you (this works best if they’re new friends who don’t know each other all that well) when you shoved a handful of snow down my back and declared snow war

v)      It’s nowhere near Christmas it’s literally still November would you calm down about Christmas wait no why are you getting the tree out no stop please stop (if you do this pre-relationship you can have the grouchy one secretly finding the other’s excitement endearing and falling in love with them actually that works for established relationship too)

vi)     Current partner got a new job in America (or other country far away) and we’re getting by on skype calls and emails but it’s not easy and then I met someone new (can be poly or can be finding the OTP person)

vii)   You want us both to get in shape and I hate working out/running but your ass looks really good in shorts oh the things I do for my friends and their nice asses

viii)  Carrying on from 10.vii. you’ve caught me checking you out in what I thought was a subtle way too many times and now you’re calling me out on it what do I do???

ix)     You’re an actor/other famous person that I really admire and I just saw you in the street and as I was debating whether or not to say hi you came up to me and started flirting what do I do??

x)      You were waving at your friend behind me but I got confused and waved back at you and now I’m dying of embarrassment but you think it’s cute

xi)     I sat down in the wrong class and I’m panicking but don’t want to get up and leave because the class has started and you think it’s hilarious and shut up you dumb fuck you don’t know me aahhh

xii)   I’m a waiter at this wedding and you’re a drunk guest who will not stop hitting on me please I’m trying to work no I can’t dance with you omg let me find you some water

xiii)  Our best friends are that awful ‘cute’ couple that make-out in public and call each other “sweetie” and “sugar” and “babe” and god they’re awful let’s talk about how awful they are – develops into “shit we’re the awful couple now”

xiv)  You pissed me off in class so I threw a book at your head and now I’m in detention and jesus fuck I hate you so much and the teacher made me apologise and wait you’re cuter up close and the way you talk is kind of nice actually oh fuck no

Okay I could go on forever but this is over 1,500 words of auing already I have too many ideas christ

ALRIGHT EVERYONE I FIGURED OUT HOW TO DO FUCKIN INVOICES SO HERE YOU GO HERE’S THE TUTORIAL

invoices are an easier / safer way to request money from commissioners. all the commissioner has to do is accept to pay the money, so you don’t have to worry about them clicking or typing anything that will get you in trouble with paypal.

STEP 1

under Invoice Information you can choose what date your invoice needs to be paid by. if you don’t have a specified date for your commissioner then make sure to select No Due Date so they don’t get into any trouble for not paying by the default date.

STEP 2

go through your Business Information to make sure it’s only showing what you want it to show. your default template may show your address, phone number, name, etc, but everything is optional and can be turned off. personally i only keep my e-mail visible so commissioners know where the invoice is coming from.

STEP 3

your commissioner’s e-mail goes here

STEP 4

fill out what your commissioner is paying for and how much it costs. double check the Total towards the bottom to make sure you’ve filled out everything correctly. keep item names vague like “commission” or “image” since paypal may freeze your account if they catch any buzzwords they don’t like.

STEP 5

here you can fill out any terms and conditions your commissioner should know about, ie when you accept payment, if you give refunds, etc.

STEP 6

in the Memo box you can write a note for yourself to see when you look at the invoice. you can write down who commissioned you and anything else you’ll need to remind yourself of later

TEMPLATE

remember that you can replace the default template so you can save your business info, terms and conditions, etc for the next time you fill out an invoice.

IF PAYPAL IS ASKING YOU TO “SHIP” YOUR DIGITAL COMMISSION

look under Selling Tools on your home page and click Seller Preferences

click Update next to Shipping Preferences

“This is meant to be an interactive flow chart for people who struggle with self care, executive dysfunction, and/or who have trouble reading internal signals. It’s designed to take as much of the weight off of you as possible, so each decision is very easy and doesn’t require much judgment.”

Bonjour!

I know I haven’t covered the Subjunctive on this blog yet, but for some of you this is review. I hope I can make this as clear as I can (because anyone who studies French knows how murky the water can be).

The Subjunctive uses:

To express doubt

To express an attitude

To express and opinion

To imply a hypothesis

How to Conjugate the verbs:

Conjugate your verb for the 3rd person noun (Ils/Elles). For Nous and Vous, use their “Imparfait” endings

Take off the ending -ENT and add the following endings

Regular -ER verbs

Je parle

Tu parles

Il/Elle/On parle

Nous parlions

Vous parliez

Ils/Elles parlent

Regular -IR verbs

Je finisse

Tu finisses

Il/Elle/On finisse

Nous finissions

Vous finissiez

Ils/Elles finissent

Regular -RE verbs

J’attende

Tu attendes

Il/Elle/On attende

Nous attendions

Vous attendiez

Ils/Elles attendent

    3. Enjoy the easiest part of the Subjunctive because it’s about to get real.

    4. Cry because of all of the irregular verbs

Aller -> aille, ailles, aille, allions, alliez, aillent

Avoir -> aie, aies, ait, ayons, ayez, aient

Être -> sois, sois, soit, soyons, soyez, soient

Faire -> fasse, fasses, fasse, fassions, fassiez, fassent

Pouvoir -> puisse, puisses, puisse, puissions, puissiez, puissent

Savoir -> sache, saches, sache, sachions, sachiez, sachent

Vouloir -> veuille, veuilles, veuille, voulions, vouliez, veuillent

Now that we know how to conjugate the tense plus we know the irregular verbs, it’s time to make the uses clearer:

The Subjunctive follows by expressions. Here are some expressions to know:

Ce n’est pas le peine que… -> It’s not worth the effort…

Il est bon que… -> It’s good that…

Il est dommage que… -> It’s a shame that…

Il est essentiel que… -> It’s essential that….

Il est étonnant… -> It’s surprise that…

Il faut que … -> It’s necessary that… (THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT)

That’s a very, very brief list. Now, let’s put it all together!

Il est essentiel que je sois le meilleur. -> It’s essential that I am the best.

Je doute que tu aies beaucoup de argent. -> I doubt that you have a lot of money.

*Note* Espérer does NOT trigger the subjunctive: J’espère que le nouveau prof n’est pas trop strict. -> I hope the new prof isn’t too strict.

Il faut que nous sachions ton âge. -> It’s necessary that we know your age.

Vous souhaitez que j’apprenne plus de langue. -> You want me to learn more languages.

Practice! Conjugate these sentences with the verbs in parentheses!

Je pense que tu _____ (être) mignon!

Il faut qu’ils _____ (recevoir) la journal.

Vous doutez qu’il vous ____ (savoir).

J’espère que vous m’ _____ (aimer).

Answers!

Je pense que tu es mignon! (This is not the subjunctive so don’t conjugate as such. Sorry for the trick question!)

Il faut qu’ils reçoivent la journal.

Vous doutez qu’il vous sache. (Make sure you pay attention and you conjugate the verb for the subject and not the direct object!)

J’espère que vous m’aimez. (Not the subjunctive so don’t conjugate as such!)

I hope this was a big help!

If you have ever had to write a resume for work or for an application, then you know the hardest part is figuring out what type of words to use that sound professional and and intelligent.

Example: If an application asks you if you have any relevant experience for a job at a day care center and you have experience, like you have babysat children. You would look at the words in the columns to see what words you should use that will help your resume stand out. You might put down “Have supervised and attended to children on a regular basis.”