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starryswitchy
StarrySwitchy

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starryswitchy
7 months ago
'You Call The Shots, Babe I Just Wanna Be Yours'
'You Call The Shots, Babe I Just Wanna Be Yours'

'You call the shots, babe I just wanna be yours'


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starryswitchy
7 months ago

AO3 Comments are SO SO SOOOOOOO important because you can only leave Kudos ONCE. You add to the hit count ONCE (every 24 hours).

So whenever someone updates their fic, the ONLY way an author knows who their regular readers are is if they comment on each chapter. And we WANT to know who's still reading.

Believe it or not, some of us think about the name that pops up constantly in the comments and go "omg I can't wait to see what they think of THIS SPECIFIC SCENE cuz I KNOW they'll say something about it!!!"


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starryswitchy
7 months ago

the way the internet facilitates a sort of memetic decay of phrases related to sexual attraction to slowly, inexorably point towards the same conventionally attractive people in their 20s instead of the original meanings is so disgusting to me


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starryswitchy
7 months ago

i think people should be talking and i fully support and encourage them to talk

i might ignore them when they talk and that doesn't negate the first part

i think tumblr is too harsh on "unfunny reblogs" and that people should feel more willing and be more free to add harmless commentary to their reblogs. it's good for the posting ecosystem, and sometimes they will be winners. simultaneously, i do remove unfunny reblog additions from posts when reblogging them, yes. these can coexist. i simply ignore things online that i don't like


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starryswitchy
7 months ago
starryswitchy
7 months ago

I mean I get where you're coming from, but a lot of abled people actually liked lockdown, for reasons that don't apply to our day-to-day outside an "emergency". In lockdown, my work facilitated everyone to work from home, even sent out stuff like webcams if you needed them. Special events were now video calls, or at least welcomed video call attendance. Shops that don't usually deliver suddenly started delivery services. Lockdown was very different, and I was very upset when those things started to get taken away again once we started to get into the "the pandemic is over!" zone...

New favourite thing to do is to remind people of how much they hated lockdown when they say they wish they could stay home as much as I do.

Like no you dont you were miserable when you were forced to stay home all day everyday for the good of your health. Thats my entire existence as a disabled person so pack it in.


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starryswitchy
7 months ago
starryswitchy
8 months ago

I'm probably really late to the party, but it's only just occurred to me that NaNoWriMo trying to defend the use of AI in writing because 'anti-AI stances are ableist' is just.

honestly.

the most ironic thing ever.

NaNoWriMo is and has always been ableist, just as a baseline concept. as a disabled person I have never been able to participate in NaNoWriMo and I will never be able to participate in NaNoWriMo.

my multiple disabilities and chronic illnesses prevent me from writing a novel in a month. it is just literally not physically possible for me. the one time I really tried, complete with multiple disability aids and a plan for pacing myself through the month and six weeks of prepping my physical health before November 1st, do you know what happened?

I had a chronic illness crash on November 3rd. literally three days into my plan to pace myself through NaNoWriMo. I didn't recover until roughly Christmas or New Years. I've never bothered to try again because of how badly I crashed. but it did teach me that I should never try to stick to schedules and deadlines made with able-bodied people in mind. a harsh lesson but one I needed to learn.

and asking ChatGPT to write my novel idea for me would not solve that problem. it would not result in a novel that I had written. it would not result in prose that sounds like me, that communicates the emotion behind the novel idea in a way that allows someone else to slip into my (chronically ill) shoes. it might be enough words to technically qualify as a novel, but it would not be my novel.

and to imply otherwise is to erase the lived experience of actual disabled people, while trying to cover up the inherent ableism of your 'write a whole-ass fucking novel in a single fucking month' event by calling people who value the art of writing ableist for opposing AI.


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starryswitchy
8 months ago

people. who play things outloud. on public transport. without headphones. are going to the worst part of hell


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starryswitchy
8 months ago

“Are you the witch who turned eleven princes into swans?”

The old woman stared at the figure on the front step of her cottage and considered her options. It was the kind of question usually backed up by a mob with meaningful torches, and the kind of question she tried to avoid.

Coming from a single dusty, tired housewife, it should’ve held no terrors.

“You a cop?”

The housewife twisted the hem of her apron. “No,” she muttered. “I’m a swan.”

A raven croaked somewhere in the woods. Wind whispered in the autumn leaves.

Then: “I think I can guess,” the old woman said slowly. “Husband stole your swan skin and forced you to marry him?”

A nod.

“And you can’t turn back into a swan until you find your skin again.”

A nod.

“But I reckon he’s hidden it, or burned it, or keeps it locked up so you can’t touch it.”

A tiny, miserable nod.

“And then you hear that old Granny Rothbart who lives out in the woods is really a batty old witch whose father taught her how to turn princes into swans,” the old woman sighed. “And you think, ‘Hey, stuff the old skin, I can just turn into a swan again this way.’

“But even if that was true – which I haven’t said if it is or if it isn’t – I’d say that I can only do it to make people miserable. I’m an awful person. I can’t do it out of the goodness of my heart. I have no goodness. I can’t use magic to make you feel better. I only wish I could.”

Another pause. “If I was a witch,” she added.

The housewife chewed the inside of her cheek. Then she drew herself up and, for the first time, looked the old woman in the eyes.

“Can you do it to make my husband miserable?”

The old woman considered her options. Then she pulled the wand out from the umbrella stand by the door. It was long, and silver, and a tiny glass swan with open wings stood perched on the tip.

“I can work with that,” said the witch.


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starryswitchy
8 months ago

not even JRR Tolkien, who famously developed the concept of the Secondary World and firmly believed that no trace of the Real World should be evoked in the fictional world, was able to remove potatoes from his literature. this is a man who developed whole languages and mythologies for his literary world, who justified its existence in English as a translation* simply because he was so miffed he couldn't get away with making the story fully alien to the real world. and not even he, in extremis, was so cruel as to deny his characters the heavenly potato. could not even conceive a universe devoid of the potato. such is its impact. everyone please take a moment to say thank you to South Americans for developing and cultivating one of earth's finest vegetables. the potato IS all that. literally world-changing food. bless.


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starryswitchy
8 months ago

Gintama’s really got something for everyone.

The anime’s funny and has this energy to it that you can tell everyone involved was having a great time. It’s a wonderful ensemble comedy that genuinely makes me laugh out loud.

The serious arcs are hype as heck, the fights are brutal and well choreographed. And they exist to magnify the emotional beats, so they feel like they have narrative weight. It matters how a fight goes down.

It’s a very good political drama. From the beginning you can tell that something shifty is going on, and each group is more or less its own political faction. The plotting is tight and it’s easy to follow what each faction wants and why.

And it has really a great philosophical message. It has something to say, and that message is bigger than all the individual moments of self reflection from the cast. The narrative feels subtly woven together to make that greater message.

And it’s anime comfort food. It’s found family. It’s learning to live and make connections to other people even though it’s hard.

It’s a series that’s big enough that you could live in it.


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starryswitchy
8 months ago
The same text post, with words scribbled out to instead read "my controversial ... opinion is that ... better horror ... before the overarching plot snuck in, and once ... identifed and named ... became way less scary".

it's not an uncommon issue

my controversial magnus archives opinion is that it was a better horror show before the overarching plot snuck in, and once the Entities were identified and named it became way less scary


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starryswitchy
8 months ago
Watercolor comic in four pages. Page 1. 1) OP as a teenager, female-presenting, with a ponytail, listening to music. "When I was 14, I had a jean jacket. It wasn’t great quality, but at least I wasn’t too uncomfortable in it." 2) "One day, a girl in my class said: "ooooh, nice jean jackeeet!"" OP turns around, surprised. "I felt cool, for once." 3) "My mother loved to repeat that in a falsetto voice to humiliate me, but I still loved that jacket." OP’s mother on a couch, to a mortified OP: "a jeaaaaan jackeeeeet??" 4) OP with the ponytail, then a bit older with short hair, then a bit older with even shorter hair. "Little by little, I started to figure out what was wrong. It took a while." 5) OP in a big coat, sitting on the floor, drawing. "At university, I was locked out of the apartment sometimes, so I wore the same big black coat for years. It was warm, and it hid my body quite well. Some people in my classes called me ‘the hobo’." 6) "I found that jean jacket in my closet four years after I moved out."
Page 2. 1) OP trying to wear the jacket again. "I was 25. No longer a malnourished teenager. The jacket didn’t fit anymore, and it was very worn." 2) "But I was wearing it anyway. I even added a patch from the catacombs on it." 3) OP jumping over a fence. The jacket is torn in the middle of the back. "And then, one day, I tore it while hopping a fence. The tear was huge, and impossible to repair cleanly." 4) The tear. "I considered throwing it away." 5) "But I put it back in the closet." 6) OP repairing the jacket. "In early 2020, at the beginning of the first lockdown, I decided to repair that stupid jacket, even if it had to be ugly. The more I wore this jacket, the more it was disintegrating anyway. At this point, I was just over thirty years old. And that’s when something started to change."
Page 3. 1) Obvious repair on the collar of the jacket. "I realised I loved visible repairs." 2) "I started sewing with white thread." 3) OP’s back, with large patches saying "whatever forever" and "see you in hell", with several small patches of birds and leaves around them. There’s repairs everywhere. "And then the shoulders cracked, so I made a denim lining inside and outside." 4) Scissors cutting the side of the jacket. "I had to make some tough decisions." 5) OP, with faint scars, wearing the jacket which is now made larger under the arms. "But I always loved the result." 6) Patches saying, among other things, "queer magic", "explorer", "wild nature", "the Cure", "Placebo", "Book smeller", "friend to bugs" and "Van Isle". "And I kept adding more patches! From bands I liked, and from places I enjoyed".
Page 4. 1) Patch saying "down on fascination street". "Embroidery". 2) Patch saying "I refuse to die until things are better and that is a threat". "Cross-stitch". 3) Patch with the logo of the Serpent’s Hand from SCP lore. "Stenciled patches". 4) "It’s like an armor." 5) "It’s like a painting." 6) "It’s like a body." 7) A sleeve with five different repairs. "Every year, the jacket wears out a little more. The more it changes, the more I love it." 8) OP, now male-presenting, lying in the grass, wearing the jacket, smiling, eyes closed. "I’m 36 now. The jacket is 22. We’ve never felt cooler."

Repaired my fave jacket, got emotional, drew something about it


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starryswitchy
8 months ago

I honestly feel like nobody in lotr mentions how fucking weird Legolas is. He stays up pacing the floor and singing to himself in the dead of night. He deadass stares straight into the tree line in the absolute pitch black when no one else can see anything. He yells goodbye to a river he has heard about in songs. He's so strange and not one character mentions it AT ALL. I absolutely love him.


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starryswitchy
8 months ago

Gosh I just love book Legolas. He's immortal. He's a teenager. Elrond picks him instead of Glorfindel because he's average and won't draw attention to the Fellowship. He's the comic relief guy and resident Little Shit, but he can also shoot a Nazgul out of the sky in the pitch black like a one-man elf anti-aircraft defense system. He wants everyone to know that he's, like, really old. He forgets the task at hand because he wants to look at trees. His greatest qualities are that he can become friends with anyone and his loyalty is unending. He shows up to Valinor a century late with Starbucks in hand and his dwarf bestie at his side. Iconic.


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starryswitchy
8 months ago

"i had straight As in high school i don't understand why college is so hard" get tested for adhd. if you were tested as a kid and they didn't diagnose you it was cause your grades were good then but you've since lost the routine and structure in hs that kept you on top of everything so go get retested. go get tested for adhd. go


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starryswitchy
8 months ago

Random linguistic worldbuilding: A language with six sets of pronouns, which are set by one's current state of existence. There's a separate pronoun for people who are alive, people who are dead, and potential future people who are yet to be born, and the ambiguous ones of "may or may not be alive or aleady dead", "may or may not have even been born yet", and the ultimate general/ambiguous all-covering one that covers all ambiguous states.

The culture has a specific defined term for that tragic span of time when a widow keeps accidentally referring to their spouse with living pronouns. New parents-to-be dropping the happy surprise news of a pregnancy by referring to their future child with the "is yet to be born" pronoun instead of a more ambiguous one and waiting for the "wait what did you just say?" reactions.

Someone jokingly referring to themselves with the dead person pronouns just to highlight how horrible their current hangover is. A notorious aspiring ladies' man who keeps trying to pursue women in their 20s despite of approaching middle age fails to notice the insult when someone asks him when he's planning to get married, and uses the pronoun that implies that his ideal future bride may not even be born yet.

A mother whose young adult child just moved away from home for the first time, who continues to dramatically refer to their child with "may or may not be already dead" until the aforementioned child replies to her on facebook like "ma stop telling people I'm dead" and having her respond with "well how could I possibly know that when you don't even write to us? >:,C"


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starryswitchy
8 months ago

so many of the "i only use chat gpt for ___" excuses are concerning because people use it in place of learning basic, valuable skills.

you don't need chat gpt to write professional sounding emails for you, there are many many guides on the internet and with a bit of practise you can learn to write them yourself. a very important skill for a professional to have, and some of the basic rules will carry over into irl conversations!

you don't need chat gpt to be a "more detailed search engine", because you're robbing yourself of the chance to learn how to find and filter information on the internet and evaluate the credibility of sources. which is a VITAL skill. plus, chat gpt is notorious for being wrong?

if you use it to write essays, you're taking away your ability to hone your research skills, your writing skills, your critical thinking skills. your ability to create persuasive arguments!

and for most of the other reasons people use chat gpt, there are non-ai websites for that! for maths, wolfram alpha. for figuring out what you can cook with the ingredients you have there's supercook and the like. for creating routines, there's about a million apps!

whatever you "only" use chatgpt for i promise there are better websites out there that you don't have to worry will produce complete bullshit???? and destroy the environment???


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starryswitchy
8 months ago

kensyouen_Y


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starryswitchy
8 months ago

"This fic was ai generated—" Cool, so lemme block you real quick


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starryswitchy
8 months ago

took me 8 months and very approx 380m of embroidery floss, and I’m now finished. going to have it framed soon :)

Took Me 8 Months And Very Approx 380m Of Embroidery Floss, And Im Now Finished. Going To Have It Framed
Took Me 8 Months And Very Approx 380m Of Embroidery Floss, And Im Now Finished. Going To Have It Framed
Took Me 8 Months And Very Approx 380m Of Embroidery Floss, And Im Now Finished. Going To Have It Framed
Took Me 8 Months And Very Approx 380m Of Embroidery Floss, And Im Now Finished. Going To Have It Framed
Took Me 8 Months And Very Approx 380m Of Embroidery Floss, And Im Now Finished. Going To Have It Framed

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starryswitchy
8 months ago

Fanfic writers are like crows. If you give them treats (comments) they will bring you shiny things (fanfic)


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starryswitchy
8 months ago

my body: LIE THE FUCK DOWN

me, already lying down, in bed, with a weighted blanket:

My Body: LIE THE FUCK DOWN

anyone else ever wish they could lie down harder? Like, I'm already horizontal, but I need more horizontal. I need to be absorbed by the floor. I think that would fix me


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