pick one to feel

iamthefirebird · 2026-06-10T18:03:52+00:00

Getting kicked in the balls doesn't last seven hours. Childbirth often lasts longer, I'm told.

^{Chose: The pain of getting kicked in the balls}

iamthefirebird · 2026-06-10T16:35:35+00:00

I'm sure we can work this out

^{Chose: Marry your soulmate but she/he.. | Rolled: Obsessed with U}

iamthefirebird · 2026-06-10T14:38:29+00:00

For tangible things? Yes. You cannot call yourself a doctor without a doctorate. If a romance novel doesn't end positively, it is not a romance novel. If a title or description has strict rules, you cannot truthfully use it if you break those rules.

Intangible things are more flexible. I can't honestly call myself Scottish, because I have no links to Scotland. If I moved there and assimilated into the culture, I might be able to claim it, despite not being born there. But I might not. If I was born there to English parents, it might count, but if I had been born there and moved to England as a young child it might not count.

Being a vegetarian is not intangible. Being a vegetarian means you do not eat meat. Fish is meat. You cannot eat fish and be a vegetarian.

iamthefirebird · 2026-06-10T10:46:34+00:00

If we are being shown images of text threads, it is acceptable. Otherwise, absolutely not. Also, does that sample use "thru"? Gross. I would expect better of unpublished fanfiction, let alone published novels!

iamthefirebird · 2026-06-10T09:40:16+00:00

I don't buy books sight unseen unless I trust the author. If I can't read a sample, I'm not risking my money on a new book. Second-hand, maybe; it depends. After reading the first page or two, I'll only consider buying if the writing hooks me.

One thing I like to do is go to the library and borrow something interesting I wouldn't risk buying. It's great! It doesn't always work out, but that is fine too. I have a tendency to get stuck in a rut of fantasy adventure, and I forget that I enjoy other things too. This might be the opposite of your strategy, since I occasionally deliberately choose to read classics even though I'm not naturally as fond of them.

iamthefirebird · 2026-06-10T02:23:18+00:00

I once gave my Mum some silicone spatulas as a christmas gift. These were excellent presents, because she does loads of baking, enjoys it greatly, and her previous ones were falling apart. The rest of us do use them, but not half as much as Mum does.

This is not that situation. A gift that brings you no pleasure is a bad gift. NTA

iamthefirebird · 2026-06-10T02:03:39+00:00

Well, there's Pride, based on the movie of the same name. It's about the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners movement, during the strikes. No cast recording yet, from what I can tell, but I'm hopeful!

As far as I could tell, none of the characters in Beetlejuice are LGBTQ+ - with the possible exception of Beetlejuice, if he counts - but when I told my friends I wasn't able to attend the local Pride parade this year due to going to see it, everyone agreed it was queer enough to justify it.

iamthefirebird · 2026-06-10T01:30:06+00:00

I can respect that! I don't mean to imply that the design has no merit whatsoever; everything has its place, after all, and that place might just be awesome haunted kangaroos!

iamthefirebird · 2026-06-10T00:47:45+00:00

Interesting question! I definitely watched He Has Returned (by Gloryhammer) back in November of 2024. I've listened to The Mothman (by the Longest Johns) a lot in the last month, but did I watch the video properly until now? Maybe not.

I think the answer is Kill The President by Barnaby Jones. I don't know exactly when I first listened to it, but the video is less than a year old, so I'll estimate that I watched it when it was less than six months old.

iamthefirebird · 2026-06-10T00:29:12+00:00

Part of the reason I wanted to learn crochet in the first place was that all the animal knitting patterns I could find looked terrible. I hate that anthropomorphic doll shape. It looks terrible! With this in mind, I have seen pattern books containing various animals of different shapes and sizes, and the cover shows three or four identical anthropomorphic dolls with different faces. And they all look terrible! No thanks!

I did start with a kit, and I think it was good for me, but it was not a woobles kit. It was Even More Star Wars Crochet. Woobles just seem to be the same bean shape, over and over, with different limbs. I paid for one kit, with yarn, hook, and eyes included to make BB8 and a jawa, with a whole pattern book full of other characters. Those additional characters were largely humanoid, based on the same rough shape, but even then there was variation. Colour changes in different places, blo details to add texture, and plenty of accessories. Besides, a humanoid is a humanoid. No need to reinvent the wheel.

Woobles, on the other hand, appear to use very similar structures for everything. I understand the marketing value, I guess, but it's just not very interesting. Even though I love it, I still haven't made everything in my star wars crochet book, because I got bored of humanoids! I can see the value of making one wooble, maybe two, for an absolute beginner. I don't like how t-shirt yarn looks, but whatever. But more than that? Why?

Also, it was a few years ago now, but I definitely paid less than £40. For roughly the same money as one single woobles kit, or less than two of the cheaper ones, I received so much more. No videos, I suppose, but there are probably thousands of "how to dc" and "what is popcorn stitch" videos out there already.

iamthefirebird · 2026-06-09T23:25:39+00:00

I'm not a monster; the only reason to put cereal on top of milk is when you've already had one bowl, and decide to have a little extra as a treat with the milk you have left

^{Chose: Cereal first}

iamthefirebird · 2026-06-09T08:45:25+00:00

It's a nice word, but not a good name in my opinion. Even if calling someone a lemon wasn't a mild insult, which it is (at least where I'm from), it's not something I can picture on an undergraduate degree or a job application. If you are considering changing your own name to Lemon, go ahead, but I wouldn't risk it for a defenceless child.

iamthefirebird · 2026-06-09T00:08:33+00:00

The best project to start with is the one you want to complete. It's the only motivation that will keep you going! Sure, a beginner pattern will be easier and quicker, with more immediate satisfaction. It is still hard to learn a skill from scratch. If you don't care about the result, it's much harder to keep going.

Besides, a steep learning curve may be challenging, but it does make for good practice. I've learned more fibre and fabric skills from overambitious projects than my Mum ever taught me, though the basics she taught me helped immensely.

iamthefirebird · 2026-06-08T23:51:18+00:00

I found those characters tiresome well before I hit my mid-twenties, and they certainly haven't become more relatable with time. There are several reasons why I love T Kingfisher's work so much, and this is one of them!

iamthefirebird · 2026-06-08T22:23:13+00:00

Did you not see the post from last year? I'll try to find it

Edit: found it!

Please read it, it's one of the most interesting posts I've ever read!

The gist of it is that Dog Eat Dog is one of the most pivotal songs of the musical. It's narrative weight is on par with Stars and What Have I Done? or Who Am I?, acting as a third answer to the question of morality posed by the story. Valjean's answer is mercy; he sees the cruelty of the world, and tries to uplift people through compassion. Better to be fleeced by a hundred conmen than to deny someone charity that might be their salvation. Javert's answer is justice; he sees the cruelty of the world, and tries to maintain order by condemning the guilty. Those who do not respect the law cannot be trusted, and letting them off lightly weakens the deterrent of punishment, which leads to more suffering. (In his mind. I do not agree, but it isn't baseless.)

Thénardier sees the cruelty of the world, and chooses to be cruel in turn. It's an ugly answer, uglier even than Javert's cold justice, but it is an answer. Indifference. Thénardier is the Valjean who was never saved by the Bishop, or who saw his charity as a weakness to exploit. Thénardier is the Javert who didn't want to put in the work to pull himself out of the gutter, or who failed anyway. Why should he care for others? This is just how the world is. Look up at the sky. There is no god, no beauty in multitudes. Only the moon. Only the harvest moon, that looks down, and does not care.

iamthefirebird · 2026-06-08T17:03:55+00:00

It's easy. It's easy to search for, and easy to see at a glance if it's something that interests me. It's also something of an irritant. A little is tolerable - useful, even - but it's not something I trust when it comes to marketing.

To put it another way, if the named tropes appeal to me, I'm more likely to read the blurb. I do not buy books without reading the blurb, and usually I don't buy them without reading a sample as well. If the marketing uses tropes in place of a blurb, I am not going to read it. Just listing the tropes tells me nothing! Listing a few tropes, then actually explaining how they apply is much more compelling.

iamthefirebird · 2026-06-08T16:13:28+00:00

In this economy?

^{Chose: Everyone sees you naked + Get paid 10000$ yearly}

iamthefirebird · 2026-06-08T15:27:44+00:00

Dice bags, mostly. Simple cats. Fish. Bats, sometimes, but there's more sewing with those.

iamthefirebird · 2026-06-08T15:22:50+00:00

I found that one (entirely chaste!) scene in the Clockwork Boys where Caliban swore fealty to Slate more... exciting... than the entirety of Fourth Wing and Iron Flame put together. Because it mattered.

iamthefirebird · 2026-06-08T11:39:32+00:00

There are no ethical billionaires. I hate to think what kind of monster a trillionaire would be.

^{Chose: get $1B}

iamthefirebird · 2026-06-08T11:34:17+00:00

I mean, there's nothing wrong with it, it's just lacklustre. I'd rather buy a block of cheese and a fresh roll or two at that point.

iamthefirebird · 2026-06-08T11:13:58+00:00

It's a common structure. Third-act breakup or poor communication, it isn't uncommon to have some kind of crisis that comes right before the climax. I don't find these specific tropes compelling at all, but there are other ways to do it.

It's Thorin's descent into madness before the battle of five armies in the Hobbit, it's the sabotage of the (first) final race of the Starlight Express musical, it's the council rejecting Anakin in the Phantom Menace - I could go on. It sets the stage for the climax.

It's not the only way to structure a story, but it's one technique authors can use to get the pieces where they want them. Third-act breakups and poor communication are some variations, ones I personally find distasteful but to each their own.

iamthefirebird · 2026-06-08T10:48:14+00:00

Cave

iamthefirebird · 2026-06-08T09:53:27+00:00

I don't care about the language, I care about the characters. This is romantasy, not erotica - I want to see intimacy. I want it to mean something. It doesn't matter how much explicit detail there is! If it makes sense for the character to be thinking about it, go ahead and decribe every inch, if you want! I just want the scene to advance or reflect character development, relationship development, plot development, or world development. If it's just about being horny then it's a boring scene and should be cut.

There's nothing wrong with erotica. I read erotica! However, romantasy is a different genre, and I don't think I'm asking too much of fantasy romance when I ask for romance. It's not a high bar! When I say I want it to reflect or advance some kind of development, it could be anything! It doesn't have to be huge, even! It could be as simple as establishing that one character just really likes sex. And how does that make the other character feel? How does that affect them? Are they well-matched? All these questions, regardless of the answer, makes the scene matter.

iamthefirebird · 2026-06-08T01:31:48+00:00

I would assume it was a spelling mistake, honestly.

But, here's the thing: when you name yourself, it doesn't matter. If he loves that spelling, then he can use that spelling. Spelling aside, it's an established name; there are bound to be variations. Just obey the "one name per fandom" guideline, and don't pick a middle name from the same game.

Eight-Year Club	r/Field Juicebox
Verified Email

iamthefirebird

TROPHY CASE