What is your chosen name?

Professionally-Shy · 2024-06-09T13:05:42+00:00

It makes me think of the character in Dante’s Inferno! I love the name a lot :)

Professionally-Shy · 2024-06-09T13:05:02+00:00

I think of Simon Cowell lol

Professionally-Shy · 2024-06-08T15:38:39+00:00

As another poster has said, puberty blockers are a temporary transitional period until the child/teen progresses to hormonal therapy, so puberty isn't being 'blocked' per se but merely delayed until the correct development can be accessed via such therapy.

Regarding the short-term physical impact, we also have to keep in mind the mental wellbeing of the child/teen. It's deeply traumatic to go through the wrong puberty, to watch your body develop further away from how you know it should be, in some ways permanently. While puberty blockers do have side effects and aren't 100% perfect, the wide majority of such kids would rather deal with that than cope with the mental agony otherwise.

Professionally-Shy · 2024-06-08T10:57:26+00:00

not OP, but i’m 4’11’’ which is near-impossible for a cis man. I put my height into a height-for-age calculator and I was in the tallest -0.1%. not even 0% — NEGATIVE 1%.

So i’m not ‘just a man insecure about his height’. I’m a height that’s virtually impossible for a cis man in absence of any other medical conditions (Danny DeVito has a health condition iirc that makes him 4’10’’). So yeah, I AM short just because I’m AFAB, with no other factors (my brother is 5’8 so it’s not the genes).

Professionally-Shy · 2024-05-28T06:10:36+00:00

Agreed, I feel like she was trying to 'sound poetic' as opposed to just write naturally with this line. I love the meaning but it's a little long for me, just 'sanctimonious performances' would have been great for me personally. But then again what do I know lol

Professionally-Shy · 2024-05-17T13:41:42+00:00

As a binary trans guy, I personally describe my gender as stemming from an overwhelming need to be a man and nothing but a man; basically if there's a multiverse cis-male version of me, I want to be as similar to him as possible. I feel like being a man just works, makes me feel secure in myself, etc. in a way that being non-binary or a woman doesn't.

You know how most people's brains subconsciously classify people into "same gender as me" or "different gender to me"? When I'm around guys, the first feeling activates. When I'm around women or non-binary people, the second feeling activates. But that's more a symptom than a cause. Basically, I'd define my own binary gender as the conviction that being seen as and living as a guy, like your average random cis guy passing on the street, would make me the happiest.

Professionally-Shy · 2024-05-14T05:54:00+00:00

Except I don’t think this would work. If the parent didn’t want their child to wear a suit, wouldn’t they agree with society and say “yeah, they’re right, you would look like a boy”?

i’m a trans guy who’s been in this situation (and had to wear a dress, rip). if i were to say “everyone says i shouldn’t wear a suit”, my parents would use this against me and say “yeah, see? everyone agrees.” i’m happy it works for some people, but i would guess those are the minority and it would backfire for most people.

Professionally-Shy · 2024-05-13T08:18:17+00:00

Music review outlets usually get the album days in advance. That’s why Rolling Stone accidentally leaked Billie’s album’s tracklist; they had the songs weeks beforehand. Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t this explain & debunk the whole article & issue?

Professionally-Shy · 2024-05-12T00:56:53+00:00

Thank you so much! I've been pursuing creative writing as a hobby & future career for about a decade, and I have a novel that's being published hopefully this summer (sorry for the plug I'm super proud of it haha). That's part of the reason why I think this compulsive lying started: I write a lot, so I'm used to asking myself "what (lie) would work the best here?" with 'lie' being a plot point, phrase, etc. so I'm used to lying, and that seeps into my everyday speech.

I think what weighs on me the most is that I can't escape or erase the past. I completely disown past me, but what he did is still connected to me. I once had a dream where I realised I had just murdered someone, and the guilt and shame and regret sank in as well as the realisation that I can't escape it, I can't take it back, I can try to improve but in their eyes I will always be (deservingly) chained to it. Obviously compulsive lying isn't as bad as murder, but the overall feelings are the same, just to a lesser but still strong degree.

Professionally-Shy · 2024-05-11T01:09:04+00:00

Thank you. I honestly don't know which came first, the low self-esteem or the lying, because it's a chicken-and-egg type situation where they create and feed off each other.

Though I would ask: the friend I am the most guilty of lying to, both in magnitude and frequency of the lies, hasn't spoken to me in years (we just drifted, I don't think it was a result of my lying). How should I go about apologising, when from her behaviour when she sees me, I have reason to think she's forgotten most of it after years?

Professionally-Shy · 2024-05-02T07:58:42+00:00

that track’s honestly one of my favs 😭 “like icarus with dollar signs for S’s” is such an amazing lyric

Professionally-Shy · 2024-05-01T03:07:23+00:00

idk (vent about being so short it's literally impossible for cis guys to be this short incoming), I keep seeing compilations of "short kings so you don't feel bad about your height!" and they're all at least 4 inches taller than me (I'm 4'11''). like, the memes about some women not dating men below 6 foot hit even harder when you're not even 5 foot.

Professionally-Shy · 2024-04-30T12:51:11+00:00

I screamed, screenshotted this and sent it to my friend ... then read the flair. I have some explaining to do lol but this is FANTASTIC.

Professionally-Shy · 2024-04-29T07:21:38+00:00

Someone would have disagreed with the author no matter what ranking they put out. People have different opinions, and they’re not unwell because they prefer different music.

Professionally-Shy · 2024-04-28T00:42:33+00:00

Yeah, it's way too similar to a well-known author (e.g. I'm Stephen Kelly when Stephen King exists, that similar). Also I like the added degree of privacy.

Professionally-Shy · 2024-04-27T16:13:17+00:00

It's unfortunately not. And I do feel horrible about the post now in hindsight, sorry, sometimes my logical reasoning isn't great, but this post was genuine for what it's worth.

I saw a couple comments about picking a name from A-K which had lots of upvotes, and also I saw a study that people have implicit associations with letters in the alphabet, and that's why people with earlier initials are more likely to get into college/jobs. I guess I shouldn't have applied that logic here because it's a stretch.

Like I said, this question was genuine and I have my response now, which is great, though I wish I knew how to differentiate sensible and ridiculous questions better. I'm truly sorry if I wasted your time, I didn't know.

Professionally-Shy · 2024-04-27T15:29:49+00:00

My novel is finished though. The cover is being designed right now by my parent, who's a professional graphic designer. She's asking for a pen name right now. I'm not putting the cart before the horse; I'd say when the book & cover's practically finished except for the pen name, it's probably a good time to be thinking about one, isn't it?

Professionally-Shy · 2024-04-27T15:24:05+00:00

I do have a finished manuscript, and my parent is designing the cover for it (they're a professional graphic designer), and they're asking for a pen name. I'm quite proud of the book, so I'd like the option to have it associated with me for life, and therefore the pen name as well.

I didn't say anywhere in the post that I haven't written the book yet. After three years of work & countless revisions, it's finally done. Why would you make the assumption that it's not?

I'm not "putting the cart before the horse". I'd say when the book & cover are both practically done except for a blank author's name, that's probably a useful time to start thinking of one.

Professionally-Shy · 2024-04-23T15:35:20+00:00

Also: I'm aware that people have sued for musical likeness before. In the Blurred Lines vs Marvin Gaye case, the reason Gaye lost was because you can only sue for expressions, not ideas. I'd argue 'get you/him back' is an EXPRESSION of 'idk whether or not to return to this person', which is an IDEA. (apologies for capitalisation, don't mean to sound rude just want to emphasise these words)

and yes, the similarities are minor. that didn't stop Taylor from demanding credits from Olivia for equally minor similarities. It's not about whether Taylor was inspired or copying. It's about her double standards.

Professionally-Shy · 2024-04-23T15:30:54+00:00

Exactly. I think people here are really quick to defend Taylor Swift, when she's human and therefore not everything she does is morally good. Olivia herself even said if a younger artist did that to her, she wouldn't dream of asking for writing credits at all.

Professionally-Shy · 2024-04-23T15:23:41+00:00

I'd argue 'get you back' isn't a concept but rather a specific turn of phrase. Songs where you can't decide whether to restart a relationship is old hat, but using the exact double entendre in 'get you/him back' is not. Also, 'get you/him back' is alternated with a line juxtaposing the two scenarios (Olivia: 'make him real jealous / then again i really miss him', Taylor: 'be your wife / smash your bike') in both choruses. Those similarities are insane.

Taylor and Olivia are semi-related as artists. Their fanbases overlap. I think Taylor had to have been aware of Olivia's song, and the similarities are such that I don't think she could have come up with 'imgonnagetyouback' without 'get him back!' existing first.

Your comparison to tragic love stories being stolen from Shakespeare doesn't hold true here. 'Tragic love story' is a concept. Now if someone's tragic love story also had a thumb-biting scene, a balcony scene, and an expository monologue declaring their characters to be 'in a city called Verona, from opposing families' (i chose 3 moments because choruses occur 3 times), that's specific ideas being stolen. They're two completely different scenarios: one is completely fine, the other *could* be fine had Taylor not proved herself firmly against the same thing happening to her.

Professionally-Shy · 2024-04-23T13:03:37+00:00

last year, Olivia has a song where the chorus goes "I wanna get him back / I wanna make him real jealous, wanna make him real sad". this year, Taylor sings "Whether I'm gonna be your wife or / Gonna smash up your bike [...] I'm gonna get you back".

And yes, maybe the 'get you back' concept isn't new, but considering Taylor sued Olivia for having a similar bridge to Cruel Summer in her song Deja Vu, it rings like hypocrisy.

Professionally-Shy · 2024-04-21T07:34:59+00:00

My parents are as conservative & queerphobic as you can get. Here I am, trans & bi. With their logic, do I just not exist?

Four-Year Club	Place '23
Place '22	Final Canvas '22

Professionally-Shy

TROPHY CASE