"Recreational Geometry" definitely sounds like more fun than it has any right to be.

While Otto's resurfacing isn't quite the same, it makes me think of this concept.

Also, "Autistic Problem Solving" definitely sounds like a thing I need to weave into more of my writing -- assuming I'm not already doing that without realizing, because there's every chance that I have been 😅

The deck inspired me to make my own storytelling deck, and that card inspired the 7's, which for my deck are about the Western concept of Karma: unexpected nonlinear payback for previous behavior (positive or negative) that creates a satisfying "ah, the universe has righted itself" catharsis.

There's a storytelling card deck with the card "The Sycofant" that, when reversed, deals with unexpected allies.
thecards.com/fullpage/syc...

I love the whole concept this card rouses in me:
either an expected ally being a traitor
or an unexpected ally helping out in a pinch.
@tailsteak.bsky.social

🤔 Come to think of it, which character would actually be capable of babysitting Giselle?

I feel like there's potential for either comedy shenanigans, or the perfect sort of powerset crossover, if only I think of a good choice. Perhaps luck-based powers? Prediction? Extra perception? Hmm.

Notably, they are both cat-people, because it's set in a fusion AU primarily based on Lackadaisy.

Carmen then sprouts wings and embraces Waldo and they dive out a window, followed by Rockapella who are still singing her exploits.

...it's a weird crackfic cameo spectacular 🙃😄🙃

Aurora Giselle tangential mention in my April Fools' Day fic:

Carmen to Waldo:
We need to get this done before the babysitter starts charging extra! Technological marvels don’t come cheap! Nor does a proper education for a young lady, and our little one deserves the best!
@tailsteak.bsky.social

Current Annoyance: I can find no data on what Bishop's hair color actually is, canonically.

Which means any detail I use in my fic is 90% likely to be wrong.

My brain hates that, and I'm trying to make it shut up.

@danshive.bsky.social

And by "they" I mean the people dealing with me *after* surgery. Pre-surgery, it was moving fast enough that I couldn't take in everything they said.

Post-surgery, I got a stack of papers, but not a really clear visual explanation, let alone a useful diagram showing the new holes and such.

The one point of critique I have for the E.R. is that they didn't really help me understand what all had been done to my body. I think had it been non-emergency surgery I would've been more aware of the moving parts and aftercare instructions. I fumbled over this for a few days and it's still weird.

Have written up a letter to the doctor who misdiagnosed me. Hope it'll help him pay closer attention to future patients.

Gonna write a letter of gratitude to the E.R. care team when I get the chance. They did a great job and I'm healing well.

The triage nurse as well -- she maybe saved my life.

Geordi pointing meme Top panel: The author's barely-disguised fetish Bottom panel: The author's barely-disguised need for therapy

I keep thinking back to how I told the Urgent Care doc that it "wasn't pain, just extreme discomfort."

Couple days later I thought: "How long have I been lying *to myself* that this isn't pain?"

Patients, especially women, may underplay their symptoms w/out even realizing it. Investigate properly.

Urgent Care's misdiagnosis could've killed me if I hadn't gotten desperate enough to call my doc -- or if the Triage Nurse hadn't called back to say "If your pain is this bad, GO TO THE ER."

Just a few hours later I got a CT, and then they were explaining how I was about to get surgery at 4 a.m.

Survived my first ever surgery.
Did not expect surgery when entering the ER; infection's bad news, turns out.

Pain level dropped from 4.5 to 0.5 or even 0.
Then hit the "body remembers it's been thru trauma" stage, so currently dealing with aches and pains, but SO much better than just 3 days ago.

I'm still glad that you decided against retconning Diane's early days. Her evolving into a better person works so much better than "why yes, she never said or did anything that was unacceptable, why do you ask?"

Being able to change and grow is such a powerful message. I love her so much.

I recently got introdued to Hazbin Hotel, and the pilot vibe is very different from the series. S2 retcons some key S1 details. Helluva Boss's pilot Stolas is unrecognizable.

You pick the ones that bring you fannish joy, and use the rest as inspiration or exploration or just toss 'em, whatever.

As a writer, I'd be glad for people to cling to my "now I know what I'm doing and I've tightened up the worldbuilding" work later in a series.

But equally, the original shaky parts are what got the tale started, and they can be appreciated in a different way, even if not kept as canon per se.

I have a soft spot for games that don't just call shit "Agility" or "Wisdom". Like hell yeah, call it "Might" call it "Gumption" call it "Verisimilitude"

Other examples:
"another tap to the cheek, two fists descending together, I-help-you, then both thumbs-up fists together, thrust forward: If I can help you, I go with you."

"thumped his chest with one open hand, then clipped it twice on the tip of the other: My choice."

I've also got one character who uses modified Signed English, and I tried to depict the signs instead of merely translating them:

"Nathan pointed at Harold, wiped his forehead, and then circled one hand, pointing up: You forgot someone."

archiveofourown.org/works/161569...

Good to know! (All right, brain, you can stop with the social panic.)

I'm curious what you'd think of my attempt to represent Auditory Processing Disorder in text. This chapter and the next use phonemic text shifts to try to give the reader the experience:
archiveofourown.org/works/260854...

@hopeandmedicine.bsky.social ...why did you take your post down -- the one that I replied to?

Was I unwittingly offensive again? (Be blunt with me about that stuff; I have trouble picking up on social cues.)

I hope I don't forget the context 'cuz it was something I wanted to think over later.

I collect tidbits through my night -- pop them off into Notepad instances to figure out later what to do with them. I don't always remember where I got specific ones.

But as I've been reading yours a lot the past couple days, this isn't too surprising 😅

🤔
It feels like the alternative is to not allow people who say "yer" and "tryna" to even be represented in written stories at all.

English spelling is one of those weird things that both unites and divides us, and could use more shake-ups if we're ever gonna get to a future with a better system.

The other day I ran across this:
"pulling on the robe in favor of wearing anything at all in the presence of another person."

which made my brain halt and analyze the problem.
"in favor of" is a comparative -- it's not a lead-up to a single thought, it's "X? no, Y"

but I hadn't noticed before.

writers artists

🤝

getting our best work
🤝 done at 2am 🤝

🤝

criminals santa claus

At least you figured this out, and it wasn't stored on AO3 drafts to be auto-deleted after you forgot about it... like one of my friends may or may not have done...

(I do want to. It's my goal to have ficlets in at least three non-English languages, eventually. But my subject matter is likely to be highly limited. It's not even on the same plane of existence.)

(I expect Spanish, Japanese, and perhaps Italian or Esperanto will be my eventual choices.)

Also I've been highly amused by the vast number of people not native to English writing massive English fics with like an error rate of 0.05% and apologizing like they've Broken Everything

while I've studied over 50 languages and couldn't write 1000 words in anything like a competent any of them.