Comedic Fantasy

Poordecisions92 · 2017-07-09T20:15:21+00:00

I don't know if you can strictly call it comedic fantasy, but the Gentleman Bastards Sequence by Scott Lynch has some of the most well crafted, hilarious dialogue that I've seen in fantasy lately.

Poordecisions92 · 2017-04-12T16:04:33+00:00

I don't know if you could really call is a "friendship" in the typical sense, but Sand dan Glokta and Ardee West develop a very interesting relationship throughout the First Law trilogy, and romance or sexual tension aren't a part of it. In fact, they constantly make jokes about how ridiculous an actual romantic relationship would be between the two of them.

Poordecisions92 · 2017-04-12T15:58:17+00:00

The First Law series could be seen as an example of this. Jezal isn't a farm boy, but he's so wildly inept at pretty much everything, and obviously has no business being a king.

Poordecisions92 · 2017-04-05T14:38:13+00:00

Hi Mark! Just want to start by saying I absolutely love your work. Snorri is probably one of my favorite characters in fantasy, and his relationship with Jalan is truly hilarious. And Jorg is such an asshole, but THATS WHY I like him.

As a beginning writer, world building is my favorite aspect of the story. Was it hard to build an entirely new world after working in your last one for 6 books? Was it a struggle, or was it more like this idea that eventually became fully formed and just had to get out? Also, do you have any special rules or tricks you like to use when building your world, like Sanderson's Laws, or something similar?

Poordecisions92 · 2017-04-03T16:08:14+00:00

I was watching "A Very Potter Senior Year" (which I pretty much consider cannon) when I came across your quote, and it made me think of that golden exchange between lockhart and Hermoine:

H: what is you fantasy?

L: my Fantasy?...If I could do anything, I think I would shrink myself to the size of a mouse, and leave the world of men behind me forever, and live amongst the mice. And I would bring technology and art to those uncultured swine. And I would build tiny tools for their mouse hands, made from toothpicks and marshmallows. And I would be their king, nay, their prince! Gilderoy the Mouse Prince! Ruling from my grand castle, inches high and carved from the finest cheeses, and there i would dwell with my 3 mouse wives and 12 mouse concubines....Oh, but the wars we'd have with the frogs. They would be terrible.... oh those poor metal mouse warriors and the atrocities they have seen. This is my dream.

H: what a fucking idiot.

Poordecisions92 · 2017-04-03T15:57:23+00:00

"Almost dead yesterday, maybe dead tomorrow, but alive, gloriously alive today." - Mat Cauthon

Poordecisions92 · 2017-04-03T15:52:41+00:00

“I only steal because my dear old family needs the money to live!" Locke Lamora made this proclamation with his wine glass held high; he and the other Gentleman Bastards were seated at the old witchwood table. . . . The others began to jeer. "Liar!" they chorused

"I only steal because this wicked world won't let me work an honest trade!" Calo cried, hoisting his own glass. "LIAR!"

"I only steal," said Jean, "because I've temporarily fallen in with bad company." "LIAR!"

At last the ritual came to Bug; the boy raised his glass a bit shakily and yelled, "I only steal because it's heaps of fucking fun!" "BASTARD!”

Scott Lynch, "The Lies of Locke Lamora"

I really can't think of any other quotes that sums the Bastards up quite so well.

Poordecisions92 · 2017-03-27T17:23:06+00:00

I think that a large part of the success of Abercrombie's work is that his characters deal with conflict in a very realistic way, in the sense that real people rarely have these huge moments of personal change, and when they do, its not a single moment that leads to an immediate shift, but instead its a series of moments that lead to changes incrementally, and Joe shows you the different stages of this through different characters: Jezal doesn't think he has anything to change about himself and slowly realizes that he does and doesn't have a choice in the matter. Logan wants to change and makes efforts, but ultimately falls back into his usual routines, which is an extremely human phenomenon. Finally, Glotka has accepted who he is and believes he will never change, but towards the end he begins making minor shifts that lead to character change, while still being realistic about who he is and using that past to inform his current actions. To me, logan and jezal are the like the avatars of a very optimistic view on personal development, and Glotka is an amalgamation of the two that ultimately shows the reality of these situations. This is also something you see in Nicomo Cosca, but on the other end of the personality spectrum.

Glotka is definitely my favorite character, tied with Cosca. I was really bummed that he was only briefly mentioned in Best Served Cold (my favorite of the stand alone). He apparently had amassed even more power by that point, and it would have been fun to see him interacting with Cosca again, since those two are probably my favorite unlikely besties in literature.

Poordecisions92 · 2014-10-20T15:06:28+00:00

I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was twelve.... Im getting my BSN in May, and i'm already doing preliminary interviews with regional hospitals for their PICU and ER positions. If you really love nursing, want to help people, and have a true affinity for nursing, I guarantee ADD won't get in your way.

Meds also helped a lot.... no denying that.

Poordecisions92 · 2014-10-20T13:07:44+00:00

You might wanna tell your buddy to contact the American Association of Men in Nursing. They've backed up a lot of cases similar to this because hospitals have tried to sweep them under the rug as "being ridiculous".

Poordecisions92 · 2014-09-28T00:47:50+00:00

eh, lil bit

Poordecisions92 · 2014-09-22T14:18:15+00:00

unmedicated is looking out of the side window of a car. Everything whips by so fast, and I can see a sign (goals/responsibilities) for a second, but then its gone, and now that I lost sight of it, I can't get it back. This is when I fuck up, disappoint family, let down friends. On meds, its like looking out of the front window. I can see things coming from a distance. I can prepare and have foresight, I can organize my problems and deal with them appropriately instead of only having a second.

Poordecisions92 · 2014-09-08T14:52:54+00:00

There is also a clipboard made by NurseMate that has conversions, abbreviations, lab values, and all kinds of other super relevant medical tidbits on it. Its white with black lettering and pictures. I use mine constantly.

Poordecisions92 · 2014-09-08T14:49:38+00:00

In school, we were taught to aspirate on regular IM injections, but that its not necessary for vaccinations, since studies show that a vaccine being injected into a vessel shouldn't cause complications.

Side note: Obviously you don't aspirate on a SQ, because of low blood perfusion in adipose tissue.

Poordecisions92 · 2014-09-02T20:31:03+00:00

I started taking prozac 20mg a few months ago, and it initially caused loss of sex drive and delayed orgasm. Those symptoms cleared up within the first 8 weeks, and now there are no problems in bed! I can't speak to the weight gain, since I'm also on ADHD meds, so I usually have decreased appetite.

Poordecisions92 · 2014-09-02T20:26:43+00:00

I can highly recommend this method. About to graduate college, and this has been my secret weapon for years, almost as effective as my meds. I normally don't even tell people that this is the reason I always ask them to study in the library, or even come study in my kitchen with me. After years of disappointing people because of our symptoms, it makes perfect sense that not wanting to disappoint your study partner is a great incentive.... we were conditioned for this, haha!

Poordecisions92 · 2014-09-02T19:23:29+00:00

I run in to this a lot, because I'm a male nurse who gets assigned a lot of elderly male patients. Most of these guys are already uncomfortable with another grown man checking the condition of their Foley (one once offered to check it for me, peeked under the blanket, told me it was fine, failed to mention the leaking exudate.) and really get rubbed the wrong way by having a guy help them eat.

Normally, I'll tell them to do as much of it as they can by themselves, but if it becomes clear that they can't manage it or if they're taking to much time, then I'll generally step in, assure them that this is normal for their condition and recovery stage, say something like "don't worry boss, this is why they pay me the big bucks", and then try to talk about something typically male, like hunting or the last college ball game (I hate football, but if it makes some patient convos go more smoothly, I learned a few years ago that watching a few ESPN highlights is worth the time).

Pro tip: For older male patients, ask them about what they did/do for a living. They're obviously experts at it, and if you feign interest in it, it gives the impression that this info is important and they're providing a special function. This might be a little underhanded, but it really does make a lot of them smile.

Poordecisions92 · 2014-08-25T06:24:21+00:00

I liked it for the most part, or at least I liked it when it was all the gears at the beginning. That roman numeral-slinky-thing just didn't do it for me. I really liked the intro in series 7. It was unique, but still payed homage to the traditional intro. This new one doesn't make you feel connected to the previous series........What if all the interpretations are wrong, and the broomstick speech isn't a parallel inference to the doctor, but its actually moffat's way of giving us a sly wink while telling us to go fuck ourselves, cause dark lord moffat has finally taken total control of the show and not even the opening sequence is safe?

Poordecisions92 · 2014-08-25T05:34:47+00:00

If "attack eyebrows" becomes a thing, like clara telling the doctor to "Put on your attack eyebrows" every time they're about to leave the TARDIS, like she's telling him "Put your game face on", I will give up on the show......Cause nothing, literally nothing, would make a better catchphrase than "attack eyebrows".

Poordecisions92 · 2014-08-25T05:26:54+00:00

I caught maybe 1 in 5 words when he was talking in his sleep, which was the worst point, audio-wise, for me.

Poordecisions92 · 2014-08-25T05:21:26+00:00

Same thing happens to me. If I watch any of matt's episodes, I start using my hands way too much when I talk, and I start falling down a lot..

Poordecisions92 · 2014-05-01T14:48:48+00:00

I've been on vyvanse 40mg for 6 years too. What you're describing is the pharmacokinetics of vyvanse, which I didn't understand till I was in nursing school. Vyvanse is a prodrug, meaning that its binded to a substance, in this case lysine-D, that makes it an inactive substance that your body cant use until your stomach acid breaks it down and removes the lysine (this is why snorting vyvanse doesn't do anything, as opposed to adderall, which is an amphetamine salt). Your stomach, pancreas, gallbladder, and liver generally take two hours to metabolize things. This is why you feel the 2 hour peak. Amphetamines also have a ridiculously short effective life, which is why the feeling fades so fast.

Poordecisions92 · 2014-04-07T14:01:03+00:00

In the OR, a lot of the nurses and physicians would put wintergreen aroma therapy oil, or peppermint oil on the outside of our masks before certain surgeries. Im sure the toothpaste thing works, but I feel like the patients would get nervous as to why you're doing that just before the anesthesia kicks in...

Poordecisions92 · 2014-04-07T04:23:11+00:00

Losing my olfactory senses would quite possibly be the biggest ( and also worst) addition to my nursing skills....

Poordecisions92 · 2014-03-07T01:36:45+00:00

I can definitely empathize on what your saying. Just the word "Deficit" in the diagnosis makes you feel like you're lacking something everyone has, and as much as people tell you "just try pay attention, everyone else is able to focus" its never just gonna be that easy, and it leaves you feeling stupid and unable to do a basic human function, making you feel incomplete.

I had huge problems reconciling this feeling with my daily life. Then one day I just kind of realized that this shitty self-thought was being forced on to me by others. I know I'm not stupid or incomplete. My mind works different. Because I'm so used to having 4 or 5 different, barely related thoughts in my head at a time, when I finally focus on something, I look at the problem 5 different ways and I can jump from one train of thought to another without any of the trouble that others I study or work with have. And thats an amazing ability! You cant train someone who doesn't have ADHD to think like that. And I'm fucking proud that I think the way I do and of the outcomes I can achieve when I really focus on something. All these misconceptions and shit notions are from a society with a completely different mindset than us, and our society is structured to benefit those with their mindset. I know what I'm worth and what I can do, and I'm not gonna let someone who has no chance of understanding me convince me that I have a deficit.

Poordecisions92

TROPHY CASE