Lately I recieved a couple of lovely messages about where I dissappeared so I decided to give a little heads up to those who are too shy to ask but may also wonder about what is going on with this simblr. So what happened to me? Well, shit happened. On March,31 my hubby bought me a new ssd, a better and faster one, and decided to change it for a better and faster working expirience. Before that he started to do a back up of all my files including game files, downloads and game folders and extra folders with cc I don’t use everyday, like themed cc for New Year, Halloween, etc. I remembered wich day it was because it was an international back up day. And, ironically, my old ssd died in pain while making a back up. I love irony in my life, I swear, lol That being said, I lost my downloads folder I’ve been collecting and sorting with love and care since 2010. I’ve also lost a lot of personal stuff like sims and some hair projects, and I’ve been feeling a bit down about that. My lovely friends helped me A LOT, shared some of their folders&stuff, but I don’t feel like I want to do this yet. I’m not going anywhere, I’ll star over again when inspiration comes back. And no worries, it always comes back. So for now this simblr is oficially on HIATUS, but I’ll be back I promise <3
There are a lot of reasons I was drawn to A Series of Unfortunate Events as a kid, and if I wanted to try and analyze them all I would have to write an entire anthology of books about the series and me and psychology and by the end of the day I would be very tired and you all would be very bored, so I’m not going to do that, but when I think about the series and probably the main reason why I’ve stuck with the series so long as a kid and now as a quasi-adult, what stands out to me is the beautiful way that Daniel Handler writes, portrays and deals with abuse.
There are a lot of messages that the series conveys across its thirteen volumes and even more in the companion pieces Handler has authored, but almost all of them come back to deal with abuse in some way, particularly child abuse. Even beyond just roundabout lessons that can be applied to child abuse, it actually depicts and deals with child abuse, a topic that is virtually nonexistent in middle grade literature even now as we start to become more aware of the topic. Children with harrowing backgrounds are common in the genre, but the difference between the Baudelaires and Harry Potter is that Snicket makes it very clear that what is happening to the Baudelaires is abuse and is wrong, whereas the Harry Potter series dismisses Harry being forced to live under the stairs as simply mean guardians and an abusive school teacher as a romantic pining for his lost love (don’t get me started on Snape discourse). A Series of Unfortunate Events tells children up front that abuse does happen and that that is what it is - abuse.
It showcases dozens of different varieties of abuse, physical, emotional, neglect, and it even hints at sexual with Olaf’s predatory behavior towards Violet. It shows different kinds of abusers, Mr. Poe, who does it out of genuine ignorance and an unwillingness to learn, and Count Olaf, who does it out of cruelty.
More than showing child abuse, it shows how people react to child abuse, either through internalizing it and believing that they are deserving of their fate, withdrawing from other people, or becoming distrusting of any and all adults to the point that they might miss out on people who could have possibly saved them if they had just trusted them. A Series of Unfortunate Events presents trauma in an accurate, non-sugar coated way to the audience that most needs to hear it.
As a seven year-old kid living with abusive parents, at the time I didn’t know why I loved A Series of Unfortunate Events so much, but I knew I loved it in a way I had never loved or related to a book before, and more than a decade later it still has a dramatic impact on my life. I was a cynic from a young age, and there’s something just draining about reading story after story of quick fixes and happy endings and stories where things go right when your life never seems to go right. I loved A Series of Unfortunate Events because the things that were happening to the Baudelaires, even though they took place in a fictional universe, were real. Handler never tried to pretend that life was great because it isn’t and if you’re a kid who has been taught by literature over and over that life is supposed to be great all the time and it’s great for everyone except you, that messes you up. A Series of Unfortunate Events told me it was okay to be messed up, and it told me that other people are messed up too, and the world is just as imperfect for everyone else as it was for me.
Since I am a sucker for arbitrary measures of time, and since I am eternally looking for new ways to Get Shit Done, for the last couple of weeks I’ve been trying something new with my schedule.
The nature of my job means my breaks are at set times and defined as breaks, so I get two 15s and a 60. Previously I would spend those times doing… not much of anything, really. Just sitting and staring at screens. Which is necessary sometimes! But now that things have slowed down at work I think it’s better to get me up and moving. And I’ve been doing my writing right before bed for a long time, so progress is creeping along but it’s a lot harder to focus on it and think through the problems.
So, here’s what I’ve been doing:
Morning break: Chores (dishes, mostly, some dealing with trash) Lunch: Writing (at the kitchen table, not at my desk) Afternoon break: House project (currently getting the books in our library properly shelved) Bedtime slot: Reading
Observations:
Getting up and moving is good! It stops me from feeling so sluggish, and the cleaning stuff is good for Thinky Time
Dishes are a constant struggle, so perhaps thinking of them as something that is never Done and must just be chipped away at is good? It’s been at least keeping things somewhat manageable.
I can’t always sustain the energy for the full 15, especially in the afternoon. But even 7-10 minutes of work is progress, although it’s not really looking that way yet.
Writing hasn’t really gotten much better, tbh. And if I need to do something on my lunch break (like yesterday I went to Costco so I wouldn’t have to do it this weekend) I’ve ended up back at scrounging for something at 11pm so I can go to bed, knowing that I haven’t really dealt with the fact that the structure of this whole section is Not Working
Oh yeah, weekends. Weekends we accomplished nothing except video games. Spouse was still on break from classes, so I didn’t want to push too hard. But shit still needs to get done.
Also I should probably fit working out somewhere in there? I kickstarted a nifty bit of equipment that finally arrived after being delayed by over a year, but it’s still sitting in its box. I don’t expect to do it every day, but like a couple of times a week maybe.
Overall I think it’s going well and I’m gonna keep it up, but I do need to figure out how to give a similar structure to my days off. My problem is that I want to do All The Things, but then I get overwhelmed and do None Of The Things. Having those limited blocks during the workday means I know going in I can only do Some Of The Things and am cool with that. So now I guess I need to apply that philosophy to weekends. (Talking with the Spouse earlier we think we might try to set 1 big goal for each weekend. Usually we’ll give ourselves an agenda that has 3-4 things and inevitably it doesn’t get done. )
Thank you for listening to me ramble, here is a picture of my cat looking like a medieval illustration by someone who has never seen a cat.
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” ― Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
#qotd : do you use notebooks to scribble your thoughts?
I don’t buy a lot of notebooks as I used to since I’ve started using them instead of staring at what I should write. There used to be an existing thought inside my head that whatever I write had to be perfect. Otherwise, it was a waste to use my favourite notebooks, yet I just stared at them for years. It was such a silly thought because the moment I started writing what was in my mind, there came a sudden relief, almost like an epiphany that makes you realize the answer has been staring right in front of your face. These vintage notebooks are perfect to write some poems while in bed or on a car trip because the digital age is taking over us mindlessly. I’ve been changing a few habits of mine recently to mindfully work and be aware of what I’m doing due to the amount of exhaustion staring at a screen causes me.
I’ve been reading There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job aside my thesis research but I’m honestly not sure what I’m doing at the moment. I worked yesterday a bit on Medieval Scandinavia section since I know more about the history of Anglo-Saxon language in Medieval England. So I was trying to think of ways on how to include within my thesis. I might be pushing myself too much to include everything or learn what I don’t know but it’s a pitfall. I’ve forced myself a bit too much that I didn’t work at all for a few weeks except a few days. So anyway, today I’m supposed to find a title for my thesis so I can contact my supervisor. To conclude my personal rant, I’m trying to work more efficiently instead of forcing myself to work.
the sounds of crunchy autumn leaves on cobblestones the smell of rain after a thunderstorm
Some photos I took in Autumn years ago and i think I just want Autumn back and breathe the sharp air with earthy tones while reading a book outside on a bench watching the leaves dance all around me.
hi friends, after some consideration over the weekend, i have decided to take a short writing hiatus due to work commitments and my mental health/wellbeing. i’ve been doing a very bad job of balancing my work/writing time and i haven’t been doing either of them particularly well.
i’m still going to try and work on any ongoing WIPs during any free time i can grab/when i’m feeling up to it, but this way i’m not putting pressure on myself to get things written and posted when i really need to focus on other things right now. hopefully i’ll be back on form soon and posting content that i’m happy with.
If there is one thing you need to know about me is that I cried when I visited the Pantheon in Rome. Both times. I’m one sensitive bean who gets overwhelmed by History
alrighty, just a short info notice, because of christmas stuff today and tomorrow i won’t be able to post any gifs - that also means the wot santa gift has to wait til sunday (or monday the latest cause i’ll include something from the last episode). aaand that also includes any other gifsets i’m working on and setting up my queue with other people’s work. (my drafts have been overflowing cause i stored everyone’s posts there. Dx)
okay so, no spoilers and i’ll not even mention any details about the leaks, but if it does turn out to be true (which i hope not for a few reasons, but also am a bit unsure cause for other reasons they do seem true, especially with all the teaser trailer confirming certain things), i don’t even know what to think tbh.
like, i’m not even a book purist (i’m not even finished reading lmao). it’s okay if things aren’t similar and all that cause tv adaptions (movie or tv series) will always have to change things because of the change of medium alone. but yes i have to admit that there have been changes made that i just can’t comprehend - sure, we don’t have the full picture yet and don’t know what they have planned for the full (possible) eight seasons. and honestly i don’t think this is all on rafe either. he had stated that he had wanted a 120min pilot and ten episodes per season but amazon denied it. same with “making the show darker”, that’s also something that came straight from the amazon execs and we don’t know how much they have their finger in the pudding in other matters either. (though i do have to state that i disagree with people who insinuate that the books aren’t dark. just because robert doesn’t focus on every single bloody detail in those moments, doesn’t mean some dark shit isn’t happening, like have you actually read the books or just looked at the cover and skimmed wikipedia?)
i’ve been so torn with this show. the casting is perfect imo, the actors do give it their all and it is incredibly obvious that they’re very passionate about their characters. so i am not blaming any of them at all for anything (why would i even, they have no say in anything). and there have been scenes that weren’t from the book or changed quite a lot in the show which i actually enjoy a lot and in some cases even prefer. but some other changes really do rub me the wrong way. and listen, that’s fine too. you can enjoy and like a show and still be critical of it or not like (or agree with) every aspect of it. but these leaks (which ngl i am inclined to believe for specific reasons the more i think about it) do hamper my enjoyment. not because they changed some major points - cause lbh the ending of teotw is quite confusing on a first read through and very rough so i don’t even mind changes to it - but because it is kinda showing a preference the writers have that i just don’t agree with and that so far is deliberately getting in the way of other storylines in the show. (again, keeping it very vague, no spoilers.)
i will watch season two, especially to see if maybe certain viewpoints change and focus gets shifted around a bit more and characters actually get to do stuff without staying one-note. (screentime doesn’t matter if said character is just standing there moping around and not doing anything btw. no you can’t change my mind but you can soothe your own and that’s fine by me.) i will definitely continue to support the actors who are all doing a stellar job (and tbh, for them alone i don’t want this show cancelled at all, like i have my grievances but that doesn’t mean i want the show to end. who knows how it’ll go next season.).
anyway this is all more incoherent rambling, cause i’m just confused as hell. i’ll get over it, it isn’t the end of the world for me, just momentary disappointment i suppose. also i do still have the books left for me and still have my book journey infront of me. so that isn’t gone in any way and no matter how much i’d disagree with anything the show does (not saying that i do, i’m just confused and… idk… underwhelmed?), the books are still there and not running away.
thank you and apologies for having wasted your time if you read this mess. and please don’t let my vague reaction influence how you view the show in any way. if you thoroughly enjoy it and have fun, then that’s great! and i genuinely am happy for you. but i myself am torn, even if some things turn out to be wrong about the leaks, my problems with the show have been there since ep1. but i will get to that once i watched the finale and have the full season in perspective.
i meant what i said, i’m going to block anyone from this account who posts rand hate - especially if you main tag it. (this goes about hate, not criticism. yes, there is a difference.) why should you reblog or interact with any of my other content in that instance? seriously, i’m too exhausted for this fandom bs. i’ll block and move on. hate a acharacter, dislike them, i don’t care. but if you put it into the tags where fans of said character have to see it, then you’ll get blocked. it’s that simple.
apologies for the silence. uni/school work has kept (and is keeping me) quite busy atm. we are working on finishing up our videogame and i’m the only game designer in our group therefore i’m responsible for our map and it’s been quite some work. i’ll try to finish up some gifsets that i had wanted to post and will also try to slowly fill up my queue. i had only saved everyones posts in my drafts so far and there are over a 1000 there yet so it’s time for me to slowly set them up in my queue. but truthfully, it will all be going quite slowly because exams are coming up too and i still have to finish up homework for four lessons that will get graded all while trying not to loose my head, so yeah.
i know i have been ranting a lot, but there are still a lot of things about the show that i like and enjoy. i will be watching season two and i know i’ll enjoy all of these talented actors back on my screen, cause imo the casting has been perfect so far. i can already see that i won’t agree with a lot of story decisions and writing changes, but that doesn’t mean that i want this show to be canceled. i actually still want and hope that we will get all the planned eight seasons because i think only then we can truly judge the full picture and if certain changes were truly worth it for the stories and the characters.
though i do have to admit that my trust in the writers is damaged and having read rafe’s cbr interview has filled me with more dread than relief (more love triangle bs, really rafe??). but now i know that from the beginning and i’ll go into season two with a different mindset. i’ll still criticize the stuff that is worthy of getting criticized, but i’ll also appreciate all the scenes that i actually enjoy. i mean that’s in general why i’m even so torn with this show. there are good things, new scenes or differently interpreted scenes that i enjoy even more than their book counterparts, but also things and scenes i wish wouldn’t exist in that way.
okay yes i did just say i’d make this its own post so that is precisely what i’m doing
hi hello howdy how are you!!
i have been having a truly very strange time recently and so i’ve been very focused on one super fanfic but i want to read more adrian fics
i want to be held. or even just any really good reader insert fics you’ve read recently you think i’d like. i’m open to anything. so this is in fact
another call for fic recs!!
if you have any fics you want to rec me (to read and share, yours or someone else’s), please feel free to send them to me!! i welcome it!! i love it actually!! and i love all of you!!
to update you all on the ofmd fic i’m writing: just scooted right on past 15k words and still going. incredibly strong on this one. this might end up being my longest one yet. and i am deeply DEEPLY impassioned about it
So I had therapy today but I won’t be having anymore (with this therapist). He immediately told me that my issues were too severe for his practice and he wasn’t comfortable with it. I’ve never in my life heard of anyone immediately being turned away due to severity but I’m glad he was honest and let me go instead of us struggling later on. It’s a bummer. Im going to ask my psychiatrist if they can recommend anyone that doesn’t only work with mild mental illness because I still need one. I waited nearly a month for this rejection.
so you really couldn’t give me peter maximoff, huh marvel? jk simmons, alfred molina, and jamie foxx can all play alternate versions of past characters but not evan peters, huh marvel? you can bring ryan reynolds deadpool into the mcu but not evan’s quicksilver, huh marvel? fuck off with your stunt casting, for real.
