Intj Ravenclaw 5w6 Moodboard

Be very aware of how you feel. If a movie doesn’t make you feel good, don’t continue watching it. If someone’s blog used to make you feel good but doesn’t anymore, don’t continue looking at it. Keep redirecting your focus to what feels good. It’s important.

Ska! How do you ink your traditional drawings? And. Would you mind sharing some tips for traditional?

Yes of course, thank you for asking! ; 7 ; / To start, don’t think you need expensive tools to draw traditionally, even just a $1-$2 ink pen or sharpie can look nice against paper! The tools I usually use for all my ink work is a red color pencil, $2 ball-point ink pen, and a sharpie (occasionally white out)! If you’re like me (someone who has trouble doing a large-scale picture and do better with smaller thumbnails), I would suggest to buy yourself a small canvas sketch journal! 

It’s a lil beat up, but this is what I use! It works well with sharpies/ink and feels great to draw on! As for sketching, I find red color pencil sketching looking better than a regular pencil! It feels like guidelines and makes the black ink pop out more! Here’s a comparison with an old doodle! 

A great way to make your lines look nicer is extra line weight! I usually give my outlines an extra stroke with the pen to make the lines thicker on the outside, and you might also want to go over your lines twice if your ink is not dark enough! ; 3 ; / I also occasionally use whiteout to fix mistakes or add lil stars/sparkle by dipping a toothpick in it. 

The next thing I suggest is using an app called CamScanner! It uses your camera to capture your pictures but defines the lines/colors better and works great if you want to use the lines as lineart when you scan it to color digitally (don’t think you need a tablet to color it! Half of this picture was colored with my tiny trackpad. You can totes do it with time and effort)! Here’s another comparison!

CamScanner on the left, and regular camera on the right! It also changes lighting, crops pictures (I had to crop the right one on sai), changes toning, and even fixes angled shots for you! It works wonderful and I recommend it! The last thing is that please have fun and take your time! 

I think that’s about it! Sorry if I went a lil long! Of course, I’m not a professional and obviously there’s probably more benefits with professional tools, but this is my process! Thanks so much for asking! <3

things we know are going to happen in vld but didn’t happen in season 5 so will most likely happen in s6:

romelle / allura’s dnd character ? where did she go

and also the entire episode where jeremy shada said they would be playing a dnd type of game

whatever scene made steven yeun cry while recording? bc that sure as heck didn’t happen in s5

keith back on team voltron and in red paladin armor but this time with galra markings on his face (this was in a promotional poster)

barlee (voltron storyboard reviser) saying the next season (s6) would be an emotional wreck for everyone, no matter which side you’re on. 

“prepare to get broken” were her exact words (:

jeremy shada saying how ‘if a character is suddenly gone from the show or is not seen as much they’re going to come back and have a huge arc’

(aka. be prepared for a huge keith and real shiro arc)

also joaquim said keith would return and that his arc is very interesting

lance actually using his altean broadsword (?)

lance continuing to be skeptical about lotor 

(jeremy said lance still doesn’t trust him, you can also tell this at the end of s5)

blake michael joining vld and whatever mysterious role he will play

josh, jeremy, bex, kimberly, and tyler (the paladins’ VAs), as well as AJ (lotor’s VA), steven (keith’s VA), and rhys (coran’s VA) all in the recording booth together

when all voice actors are in a recording booth together, it means they have a significant amount of scenes together, so it can be assumed that keith and lotor both have a decent role with the rest of team voltron in at least certain parts of the next season

jeremy saying the team would have a reunion with their families somehow, hinting that they would be traveling back to earth

jeremy promising that the keith / lance relationship that is currently set in place will evolve into more of a mutual respect with less bickering and will lean more towards friendly jokes instead

lance will stand up to shiro but it’ll be hard for him to do so since he views shiro as such a huge inspiration and role model in his life

I get so caught up in my head that it eats away at me. I believe the worst is going to happen because it always has. I always have these “what’s ifs” that drive me crazy and make me miserable. I create trouble in my head that isn’t even there and get myself worked up. I just want to shut it off and not overthink everything to death. To just live in the moment.

Chapters from my life (via melindacarolinee)

not doing great?

clean your room

open curtains/windows

take a shower

put on clean clothes

get out of your room a bit

stretch

drink a glass of water

get the hard/important stuff out of the way while you have energy

set some (any!) goals

remember that it is okay to have bad days

I can still relate to him even after all these years, the oldest (and smartest) of four siblings yet I barely get any respect and still have moments of stupidity.

3 decades of Donatello.

Process of my latest drawing from very quick sketch to shading and line work. I am trying to get back into art after a long break and drawing my fav character is helping. Critics are welcomed since since this was a really hard pose and lighting even with reference.

So You Need To Buy A Computer But You Don't Know What Specs Are Good These Days

Hi.

This is literally my job.

Lots of people are buying computers for school right now or are replacing computers as their five-year-old college laptop craps out so here's the standard specs you should be looking for in a (windows) computer purchase in August 2023.

PROCESSOR

Intel i5 (no older than 10th Gen)

Ryzen 7

You can get away with a Ryzen 5 but an intel i3 should be an absolute last resort. You want at least an intel i5 or a Ryzen 7 processor. The current generation of intel processors is 13, but anything 10 or newer is perfectly fine. DO NOT get a higher performance line with an older generation; a 13th gen i5 is better than an 8th gen i7. (Unfortunately I don't know enough about ryzens to tell you which generation is the earliest you should get, but staying within 3 generations is a good rule of thumb)

RAM

8GB absolute minimum

If you don't have at least 8GB RAM on a modern computer it's going to be very, very slow. Ideally you want a computer with at least 16GB, and it's a good idea to get a computer that will let you add or swap RAM down the line (nearly all desktops will let you do this, for laptops you need to check the specs for Memory and see how many slots there are and how many slots are available; laptops with soldered RAM cannot have the memory upgraded - this is common in very slim laptops)

STORAGE

256GB SSD

Computers mostly come with SSDs these days; SSDs are faster than HDDs but typically have lower storage for the same price. That being said: SSDs are coming down in price and if you're installing your own drive you can easily upgrade the size for a low cost. Unfortunately that doesn't do anything for you for the initial purchase.

A lot of cheaper laptops will have a 128GB SSD and, because a lot of stuff is stored in the cloud these days, that can be functional. I still recommend getting a bit more storage than that because it's nice if you can store your music and documents and photos on your device instead of on the cloud. You want to be able to access your files even if you don't have internet access.

But don't get a computer with a big HDD instead of getting a computer with a small SSD. The difference in speed is noticeable.

SCREEN (laptop specific)

Personally I find that touchscreens have a negative impact on battery life and are easier to fuck up than standard screens. They are also harder to replace if they get broken. I do not recommend getting a touch screen unless you absolutely have to.

A lot of college students especially tend to look for the biggest laptop screen possible; don't do that. It's a pain in the ass to carry a 17" laptop around campus and with the way that everything is so thin these days it's easier to damage a 17" screen than a 14" screen.

On the other end of that: laptops with 13" screens tend to be very slim devices that are glued shut and impossible to work on or upgrade.

Your best bet (for both functionality and price) is either a 14" or a 15.6" screen. If you absolutely positively need to have a 10-key keyboard on your laptop, get the 15.6". If you need something portable more than you need 10-key, get a 14"

FORM FACTOR (desktop specific)

If you purchase an all-in-one desktop computer I will begin manifesting in your house physically. All-in-ones take away every advantage desktops have in terms of upgradeability and maintenance; they are expensive and difficult to repair and usually not worth the cost of disassembling to upgrade.

There are about four standard sizes of desktop PC: All-in-One (the size of a monitor with no other footprint), Tower (Big! probably at least two feet long in two directions), Small Form Factor Tower (Very moderate - about the size of a large shoebox), and Mini/Micro/Tiny (Small! about the size of a small hardcover book).

If you are concerned about space you are much better off getting a MicroPC and a bracket to put it on your monitor than you are getting an all-in-one. This will be about a million percent easier to work on than an all-in-one and this way if your monitor dies your computer is still functional.

Small form factor towers and towers are the easiest to work on and upgrade; if you need a burly graphics card you need to get a full size tower, but for everything else a small form factor tower will be fine. Most of our business sales are SFF towers and MicroPCs, the only time we get something larger is if we have to put a $700 graphics card in it. SFF towers will accept small graphics cards and can handle upgrades to the power supply; MicroPCs can only have the RAM and SSD upgraded and don't have room for any other components or their own internal power supply.

WARRANTY

Most desktops come with either a 1 or 3 year warranty; either of these is fine and if you want to upgrade a 1 year to a 3 year that is also fine. I've generally found that if something is going to do a warranty failure on desktop it's going to do it the first year, so you don't get a hell of a lot of added mileage out of an extended warranty but it doesn't hurt and sometimes pays off to do a 3-year.

Laptops are a different story. Laptops mostly come with a 1-year warranty and what I recommend everyone does for every laptop that will allow it is to upgrade that to the longest warranty you can get with added drop/damage protection. The most common question our customers have about laptops is if we can replace a screen and the answer is usually "yes, but it's going to be expensive." If you're purchasing a low-end laptop, the parts and labor for replacing a screen can easily cost more than half the price of a new laptop. HOWEVER, the way that most screens get broken is by getting dropped. So if you have a warranty with drop protection, you just send that sucker back to the factory and they fix it for you.

So, if it is at all possible, check if the manufacturer of a laptop you're looking at has a warranty option with drop protection. Then, within 30 days (though ideally on the first day you get it) of owning your laptop, go to the manufacturer site, register your serial number, and upgrade the warranty. If you can't afford a 3-year upgrade at once set a reminder for yourself to annually renew. But get that drop protection, especially if you are a college student or if you've got kids.

And never, ever put pens or pencils on your laptop keyboard. I've seen people ruin thousand dollar, brand-new laptops that they can't afford to fix because they closed the screen on a ten cent pencil. Keep liquids away from them too.

LIFESPAN

There's a reasonable chance that any computer you buy today will still be able to turn on and run a program or two in ten years. That does not mean that it is "functional."

At my office we estimate that the functional lifespan of desktops is 5-7 years and the functional lifespan of laptops is 3-5 years. Laptops get more wear and tear than desktops and desktops are easier to upgrade to keep them running. At 5 years for desktops and 3 years for laptops you should look at upgrading the RAM in the device and possibly consider replacing the SSD with a new (possibly larger) model, because SSDs and HDDs don't last forever.

COST

This means that you should think of your computers as an annual investment rather than as a one-time purchase. It is more worthwhile to pay $700 for a laptop that will work well for five years than it is to pay $300 for a laptop that will be outdated and slow in one year (which is what will happen if you get an 8th gen i3 with 8GB RAM). If you are going to get a $300 laptop try to get specs as close as possible to the minimums I've laid out here.

If you have to compromise on these specs, the one that is least fixable is the processor. If you get a laptop with an i3 processor you aren't going to be able to upgrade it even if you can add more RAM or a bigger SSD. If you have to get lower specs in order to afford the device put your money into the processor and make sure that the computer has available slots for upgrade and that neither the RAM nor the SSD is soldered to the motherboard. (one easy way to check this is to search "[computer model] RAM upgrade" on youtube and see if anyone has made a video showing what the inside of the laptop looks like and how much effort it takes to replace parts)

Computers are expensive right now. This is frustrating, because historically consumer computer prices have been on a downward trend but since 2020 that trend has been all over the place. Desktop computers are quite expensive at the moment (August 2023) and decent laptops are extremely variably priced.

If you are looking for a decent, upgradeable laptop that will last you a few years, here are a couple of options that you can purchase in August 2023 that have good prices for their specs:

14" Lenovo - $670 - 11th-gen i5, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD

15.6" HP - $540 - 11th-gen i5, 16GB RAM, and 256GB SSD

14" Dell - $710 - 12th-gen i5, 16GB RAM, and 256GB SSD

If you are looking for a decent, affordable desktop that will last you a few years, here are a couple of options that you can purchase in August 2023 that have good prices for their specs:

SFF HP - $620 - 10th-gen i5, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD

SFF Lenovo - $560 - Ryzen 7 5000 series, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD

Dell Tower - $800 - 10th-gen i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD

If I were going to buy any of these I'd probably get the HP laptop or the Dell Tower. The HP Laptop is actually a really good price for what it is.

Anyway happy computering.

Happy International Asexuality Day!

6th April marks the first celebration of IAD which has been organised by various groups around the world.

Happy International Asexuality Day! Today is a day for celebrating all people who identify under the asexual umbrella and spreading awareness about their experiences.

A number of ace organisations worked together to make April 6th 2021 the very first International Asexuality Day.

The themes of today are:

• Advocacy

• Celebration

• Education

• Solidarity

What is asexuality?

• Feeling little to no sexual attraction

Some asexual people also feel no romantic attraction. This is known as aromantic.

However, some asexual people do feel romantic attraction. This is broadly known as alloromantic, but can be more specific such as biromantic (romantically attracted to two or more genders but experience little/no sexual attraction).

Asexuality is a spectrum!

Here’s just a few identities within the asexual umbrella:

Demisexual - someone who does not experience sexual attraction until they have formed a deep emotional connection with someone

Grey-asexual – someone who feels sexual attraction weakly, infrequently, or in specific contexts

Aceflux – someone whose sexual orientation fluctuates but generally stays on the asexual spectrum

Lithosexual – someone who does experience sexual attraction but does not want it reciprocated. Person may be uncomfortable at the thought of someone being sexually attracted to them, or they may lose their sexual feelings if they learn it's reciprocated.

Fraysexual – when someone only experiences sexual attraction towards those that they are not deeply connected with, and lose that attraction as they get to know the person.

Why is awareness important?

• Combats acephobia

• Challenges normativity

• Helps provide support

• Feelings of connectedness and community ; feel less alone

• Dispel myths and misunderstandings

• Help normalise asexuality and other LGBTQ+ identities

• Representation ; increasing visibility

• Helps highlight the issues faced

• Celebrating people on the asexual spectrum