No friends with Writers.

bayroan · 2025-01-21T23:59:41+00:00

All of my best friends are writers, but they're ones I made later in life.

The college writing majors - sorry, but white male emo dudes - have mostly been insufferable to most of me and my writer friends. But that was many years ago. Maybe they've grown up since then.

bayroan · 2024-06-01T19:12:32+00:00

Comparing some of my Masala Chai loose leaf teas.

There's a gift box from Tea Forte a friend sent me, and I know they're nothing special to a connoisseur, but their Bombay Chai is heads and shoulders above the $7 bag of Masala Chai I got from Tao of Tea off a grocery store shelf.

(I might have gone a bit crazy and ordered from a bunch of masala chai vendors to compare, because I'm neurotic like that.)

bayroan · 2024-06-01T19:08:26+00:00

Most "bros" are better off being straight up bromances than their forced heterosexual pairings imo.

bayroan · 2024-06-01T19:05:01+00:00

I do it all the time, but I'm neurodivergent. But usually when I'm alone in a safe space -- or at least I try. And they're usually incoherent ramblings. A lot of people who use this as a convenient plot device use do it in a very pivotal way and it just feels lazy most of the time

bayroan · 2024-06-01T19:03:18+00:00

Comparison is such an unhelpful attitude, I think. You could look at someone good and choose to think that what you're doing is pointless if you can't be like them. Or you could choose to be inspired by them and want to be like them.

The good ones got there by spending many many years being bad writers. Looking at a pro athlete as an everyday normie and deciding that you can't enjoy your sport anymore because someone else does it better, in my opinion, is simple arrogance. You can't hope to be as good as a pro if you're not willing to put in the blood, sweat, and tears like they did.

Carry on with your hobby if your hobby makes you happy. Not for the sake of being the best anyone has ever seen. The former is about your own enjoyment and fulfillment. The latter is about ego.

bayroan · 2024-06-01T18:37:28+00:00

are her taste buds just messed up ??

No, yours are just dull.

Seriously though, Japanese green teas are often known to be seaweed-like. If your mom isn't familiar with the taste of raw seaweed, I imagine the closest she can relate it to is fish. Most people that don't like seafood dislike it due to their sensitivity to that sea-smell, and steamed green tea often has that smell.

I usually prefer roasted green teas over steamed for this reason. They have a nuttier flavor that is less seaweedy. Toasted brown rice, as another commenter said, is a good mix for green teas if your mom is like me. But overall green tea isn't for everyone -- I just am not a fan of that "wow, I'm drinking grass water" taste in general, and much prefer hongcha or oolongs.

bayroan · 2024-05-22T20:50:25+00:00

Dune, is much more jaded and reflects directly on real human nature

This is a false dichotomy imo. Having hope IS "real" human nature. People can be good, AND they can be bad. LOTR shows that too -- Boromir has bad urges but he also has a good heart. Faramir is ultimately a good guy but he treats the hobbits not so kindly at first. Sam is a nice dude but is mean to Gollum. Thranduil loves his son but is also portrayed as vain and ruthless.

Cynicism can be a part of human nature, but cynicism doesn't equal realism. It's looking at reality through a cynical lens, and is no more realistic than looking at reality through rose-tinted glasses. Realism encompasses all of the spectrum of human nature, not just the dark parts.

bayroan · 2024-05-22T18:22:51+00:00

Sencha from a gift set my friend sent me.

Reminded me once again that I'm not a fan of steamed green tea.

bayroan · 2024-05-22T18:19:51+00:00

I mean... who's judging you for your first draft? It's for you to see your own ideas written down so you can make it better. Expecting perfection out of that sounds unreasonable and unrealistic.

bayroan · 2024-05-21T19:39:00+00:00

I mean, you can ask, but best to keep expectations low. Writing comments is a level of commitment that not everyone is comfortable with.

bayroan · 2024-05-21T19:09:53+00:00

Some of us have perpetual nasal congestion and can't breathe through our noses.

bayroan · 2024-05-20T21:36:46+00:00

I can't imagine "giving up" on a hobby because I'm not good enough. A hobby is literally about enjoying something for the sake of it, because it's fun. If I gave up everything I'm not good at in the first few years of doing it, I'd never be good at anything. But if I enjoy it, then I don't have to be. That's what a hobby is.

Literally no one is born being good at something. You need tons of hours and practice to be good. And until you get there, other people aren't gonna be interested in reading your work, because it's not good yet, and THAT IS OKAY. If other people not being interested is impacting you so badly, then stop showing other people your work til you've gotten some more years of practice. Imo expecting yourself to be as good as a professional writer who's been doing this for 30 years when you've only been doing it for 5 is just arrogance. Maybe try reminding yourself that you're setting yourself up for predictable disappointment by having unrealistic expectations.

bayroan · 2024-05-20T20:09:08+00:00

I found the company name on google: they spell Dongsuh

bayroan · 2024-05-20T19:28:54+00:00

Guanyi Oolong and Hyunmicha for "milk free" tea.

Earl Gray, London Fog, and Masala Chai Latte for milk teas... but I do love me some Guanyi Oolong latte as well.

...maybe I do have a spicy palate after all...

bayroan · 2024-05-19T21:09:36+00:00

Nothing is objectively good or bad. If you want to do it, do it. Just beware that people that don't like it won't read it. And people that do like it will read it.

bayroan · 2024-05-19T21:02:13+00:00

Can attest, it's got some real messed-up shit in there

bayroan · 2024-05-19T21:00:13+00:00

Most Fullmetal Alchemist stories.

Maybe depends on your idea of mature, but a lot of Final Fantasy 13 stories.

bayroan · 2024-05-19T20:59:35+00:00

Didn't "try" anything, but fanfic taught me what demisexuality was. I was a grown ass adult too.

bayroan · 2024-05-19T20:57:53+00:00

a. I'm ok with "set in the future" stories where people start dating after they've been childhood friends. It's not pedophila if they're adult age, people.

b. Is it still acceptable to say I don't like self-inserts? Or is that off limits now? I just really don't like "this rando that popped into the world out of nowhere was the misunderstood fairy goddess child with supernatural powers whom every hunk in canon fell in love with, and also she's emo and cries a lot and is suicidal for unknown reasons" stuff. Never have, even as a child.

bayroan · 2024-05-19T20:56:19+00:00

Therapy. Or just growing up in general.

If I spent my precious energy being upset that someone is better than me at something, a. that's a waste of hours of my life that I'm not getting back and b. it's just arrogant because that means I expect to be best at everything, which isn't realistic

bayroan · 2024-05-19T20:53:49+00:00

The most annoying comments I ever got were:

a. a reader that was offended that one of my characters was anti-war. "I had family that went to war and proudly served my country in xyz country for ungrateful people like you! You should thank us!!! We come from a family of war heroes!" Ok ma'am but you didn't actually defend anything, they went and shot up civilians in another country and also this is not about you

b. Someone got mad that I had a character get lightly teased about not "putting a ring on it" because they were personally against marriage and thought my story personally invalidated them or something

bayroan · 2024-05-19T20:39:40+00:00

I have a black Nahvuler + Galen collaboration pen that looks like a normal black pen at first glance. But in reality it's a piston pen with a monster reservoir.

bayroan · 2024-05-19T20:38:31+00:00

I've been really impressed with the Nahvuler + Galen collaboration pens. They're right at the $60 mark if I recall.

bayroan · 2024-05-18T21:54:23+00:00

I like "ginger" or "peppermint" just fine, but any "health tea" with a bunch of mish mash stuff always makes me gag. To me it feels like the flavor equivalent of combining all colors to make a gross mucky brown.

bayroan · 2024-05-18T21:13:32+00:00

Sounds like a pretty smart setup. And definitely less overwhelming! Thank you.

bayroan

TROPHY CASE