To All The Fanfiction Writers Out There!

During a conversation with my manager this morning, she mentioned that her manager– the district manager– had told her that “We want people who are passionate about our products. We don’t want people working here if they’re doing it for the money.”

To which the manager (internally, because she doesn’t want to be fired), went “you’ve got to be fucking shitting me.”

Here’s the thing: it is totally possible to do a job for the passion and not be obsessively thinking about the money every minute of every day. In fact, there have been economic studies regarding that very thing.

You know when it starts?

When the employee in question is making $50-75k per year.*

That’s the starting point of financial security. That’s the point when you’re fairly secure that you’re going to have rent, food, and basic living expenses covered. 

I’ve worked a lot of jobs over the years. A lot. I saw the same working as a freelancer– when I charged lower rates, my clients treated me like shit and acted like they were doing me a favor; when I charged more, they respected me as a professional. A newspaper that started out paying me above market wage also treated me very kindly, because they started with the assumption that I was a human being who needs to eat.

In my experience, the employers that insist that your job be your “passion” are also the ones that pay you nothing and treat you like garbage. It’s exactly like abusive people, who tell you that you would put up with their abuse if you “loved them enough”. It’s a way of convincing the victim that they’re responsible for their own mistreatment, which is absolutely fucked up.

Here’s my advice to you:

It is absolutely okay to take a job that doesn’t pay you what you deserve–  you’ve got to eat, after all. But don’t think for a second that you have a responsibility to that job. If you see something available that pays better and treats you better, take it and don’t look back. Don’t waste an ounce of sympathy for employers who try to convince you that passion is an acceptable substitute for survival. 

Now listen here you little shit one tiny kudos does not fully express the how I feel when I read a good fanfic and I am no where near being able to express in words the shear heartbreak or pure happiness that these authors can make me feel so let me send another fucking kudos

When someone asks why I’m so invested in the Crows in Shadow and Bone even though they didn’t do anything plot related the entire season:

I need to rant.

The thing about being aromantic, asexual, or on the spectrums that a lot of people don’t seem to get is that compulsory sexuality exists.

Not just compulsory heterosexuality. Compulsory sexuality. Period. The idea that every person on the planet feels some kind of sexual and romantic attraction.

I grew up watching media, same as all of you, and how are people that are interested in purely sexual relationships depicted? As cold people. As cheaters. Usually it’s a straight man looking to use women. His character development almost always includes settling down. And people that don’t experience sexual attraction? Characters like Data from Star Trek or Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory. Androids and characters coded as having a very specific type of autism. And even they have sexuality forced upon them by the writers at least once. With Data it happens in the second episode.

And then we try to explain this to people. Why we hurt ourselves and put ourselves in dangerous and uncomfortable situations trying to fix ourselves. Make ourselves feel sexual and/or romantic attraction. We bring up the bullying we endured. The things our therapists tried to fix about us. We talk about our trauma related to compulsory sexuality and you all just don’t hear us.

I’m so tired of it. I’ve been fighting the fight to be seen since I was fourteen! I’ve given talks in GSAs. I’ve written essays to educate. I’ve comforted other asexual people on the internet and irl. I’ve scraped and grabbed for community. I’ve done my very best to fight to be seen. I’ve healed from the trauma I put myself through in trying to fix myself. I’ve realized that I don’t need to be fixed. I’ve been as goddamned involved as an asexual person can be with the resources we have. I may be young but I have been fighting longer than most and I am so protective of the people just realizing that they’re aro or ace or demi or anything else. No matter how much older or younger they are than me.

And then some people on the internet decide that they get to undo everything I and so many other asexual and aromantic people have done. They get to decide that their trauma is more real than mine. They get to push me and my brothers and sisters and siblings out the door because they don’t see invisibility as oppression. They’ve held up their little sign that says “must be this oppressed to enter” and then held it up higher so that we didn’t fit.

Some of them told me “oh you can come in because you tick these boxes but that other box doesn’t count”

No. That box definitely counts. That box is just as much a part of me as any of the others and it is the one I have fought for the longest. Our community won’t be made invisible again. Invisibility is crushing. It is suffocating. Abuse and hatred of all kinds thrive in silence.

I feel alone sometimes. Like I am the only soldier holding a banner in front of a stone wall. But I am not alone, and you aren’t either. I’m tired of being casual. I’m tired of being seen as a rarity. A novelty. An android. A nuisance. I am none of these things. I, like every other arospec or aspec person, am a friend of dragons. Something that was hidden for so long, protecting itself and what it loves, but has the ability to be loud, dangerous, firey.

Asexual and aromantic people have been polite. Quiet. Because that’s what we feel we have to be. We can’t protest by kissing someone in front of a picket line. What can we do then? Talk. Write. Wear our colors. If we have to keep being polite and quiet about it, fine. That’s how we do. But let’s not be invisible. I will continue to let everyone that knows me understand under no uncertain terms that I am asexual. I will point to our aromantic siblings, sisters, brothers. I will tell you to look at them. Look at us. We exist. We are wonderful. We belong. In queer spaces, in the media, in the public eye.

If you are aro or ace people will tell you that they don’t care. They will ask why they need to know. But being yourself is a radical act. I know it is. We are often polite in this community. We don’t rally. We don’t look to change the world. We don’t depict ourselves as radical or challenging the establishment, but we are. We are. We have been from the moment we realized we exist. Our history is small. We are creating the early stages of it as we speak, but it is still rich. It is still beautiful. Even if we are spread out, I love this community so deeply. So completely. I probably won’t ever be a leader in this community or any other one. That’s not where my talents lie. But I will continue to push for us to be seen. I will write literature for us. I will talk. I will be as visible as someone like me can be. I will fight to make the words ace and aro and demi and grey just as well known as gay, ace, lesbian, bi, trans.

And there are so many of us out there doing the same. We are not alone. We have never been alone. And these people trying to make us alone won’t succeed. I know this. I feel it in my gut.

Thanks for listening to me rant.

have y’all ever thought how fucking grand and iconic it would be , if guardian was actually gay ? like , the show itself , you know .

there are so many aspects to it that would be no joke groundbreaking . and i’m not even talking about a chinese show being gay . like , have you ever thought about how much weilan’s story defies homophobic stereotypes ?

for starters , guardian is a sci-fi show with two queer main characters , which - correct me if i’m wrong - has never happened anywhere before . it also has a plot that fully depends on the love story of said two characters , though at the same time that plot is not entirely just about the two characters being gay without any further explanation . it’s not stereotypical either . it’s an actually beautifully thought-out love story .

another thing that a lot of homophobes love to push is that gay people can’t be in love / one person can’t be in love with another person of their gender . and i mean , what defies that better than a story about a man being in love with another man for ten thousand years , waiting for him and being faithful to him that entire time , despite not being able to see him ?

guardian is not just a bl , it’s not just a show that has absolutely zero plot and whose only saving grace is the fact that it is gay ( not that there is anything wrong with that tbh jfksjfksjfksjs ) . but , it is really a full blown sci-fi show with lots of different amazing characters , each of whom has their own plot .

it also doesn’t fall under the usual shitty plotline of either of the guys being confused about their feelings ? shen wei definitely isn’t , but neither is yun lan . he is absolutely sure in his love for shen wei , and when a girl chases after him and tells him she loves him - he rejects her without a shadow of a doubt . no way in hell would he want any woman , or anyone else really , when he has shen .

and why does no one talk about guardian punching toxic masculinity in the face ? shen wei is a man devoted to the love of his life for ten thousand entire years . yun lan is a man fully devoted both to a man he loves and also his team , which he also loves and cares for deeply ( and he shows it too , in many ways ) . guo changcheng is a fragile gentle boy , who doesn’t end up ‘ winning ‘ by becoming hyperly-masculine, but instead by embracing himself . and there is many more examples .

i can go on and on about this . guardian could do shit™️ if it was allowed to be what it was supposed to be from the very beginning . and i’m just so sad that it wasn’t .

Ineffable Husbands

it took ages but i finally finished these paintings, i love these boys so much i’m gonna cry

(PLEASE DON’T COPY/EDIT/USE/REPOST, REBLOG INSTEAD)

The ManDADlorian

My very first The Mandalorian art guys. Also my very first artwork of a Mandalorian, of a Yoda species, and my very first Star Wars artwork that I turned into an animation. I really love this show and hope to see more great things come from it. Can’t wait for what’s next! Babie Yoda Uwu is too adorable.

DO NOT REPOST!

Darth Vader + Dramatic Entrances for @darthgalpal

Bonus:

·˚ ༘♡ uchiha sasuke ‘n uzumaki naruto[sasunaru/narusasu] matching icons - like or reblog if u save ·˚ ♡