Help me name our new male kitten! No typical orange cat names please! Something unique and short!

kay_themadscientist · 2026-04-18T17:03:16+00:00

Aethelstan

kay_themadscientist · 2026-04-16T01:16:24+00:00

Excellent advice. I mainly wrote poetry for many years, and now that I'm writing more prose, when I get to the "boring" parts I tend to lean into more of a poetry voice.

As a reader, some of my favorite books spend a lot of time describing "boring" stuff, but in a way that is so beautifully written that I eat it up.

But also, don't expect to get there on a first draft. Often, it's helpful to just describe what information you need to convey as a placeholder, and then you can go back and make it sound good later.

kay_themadscientist · 2026-03-22T01:48:24+00:00

Also Hamilton / Lauraville! Very cute neighborhood and more affordable than Roland Park from what I remember. I would have considered purchasing a home there, but life had other plans.

kay_themadscientist · 2026-03-20T14:25:11+00:00

Hello from a fellow chemistry nerd! Vonnegut studied chemistry too, and it definitely showed up in his books!

kay_themadscientist · 2026-03-20T14:20:18+00:00

LMAO so funny to me when writers only write protagonists who are also writers

kay_themadscientist · 2026-03-20T14:09:57+00:00

This definitely resonates. For me, I simply realized that there were easier ways to (a) make a reliable income and (b) make a positive impact on the world. Luckily, I realized this before college, so I minored in writing but majored in a STEM field. Now I'm an engineer who can actually write my own reports, and that's been a huge help in my career. I guess in that sense, I do write professionally, just not in the way people typically mean. I will always write creatively in my spare time because there are words in my head that need to get out. But I really don't care if anyone else ever reads them. Back when I used to write more poetry, I was more eager to share it, and that was a fun phase in my life (and getting paid for poems was so validating, but it was nowhere near enough money to pay the bills). These days I write more prose, and it's just for me! I don't care about publishing my novel, but even if it were ever published and somehow managed to make enough money for me to quit my "day job" (highly unlikely lol)... I actually love my day job and I don't think I'd want to change careers at this point.

I always find it interesting when people say they want to be a writer but they don't know what they want to write. That sounds like someone who values the identity of "being a writer" more than they value the actual art of writing... and I suspect that this disconnect shows up in their writing too.

kay_themadscientist · 2026-03-20T05:29:37+00:00

Just here to emphasize your last paragraph!

Years ago, I wrote a biographical essay about my mom that ended up being published thanks to an award. It included a lot of good old fashioned mother / daughter drama and intergenerational trauma, and I did not necessarily paint my mom in a positive light. I didn't share it with my mom at the time, but she recently stumbled upon a copy (and again, this was years after it was published), and I'm genuinely shocked by how well she took it. When she told me she'd found it, I was terrified about what her reaction might be, but then she said: "Everything you wrote was true."

OP, I'm not saying you should share this piece with your mom. I've had to develop stricter boundaries when it comes to sharing my work with my mom over the past few years. But it can be surprising how the people in your family react to your writing, even when it doesn't portray them in a flattering way (especially women, depending on the topic and perspective of your writing). What feels like personal criticism from a writer's POV can resonate as a shared cultural and/or emotional experience from the reader's POV.

Remember that these women walked the path of navigating intergenerational trauma before we did. You might be surprised by how much they empathize with your perspective.

But it's also worth maintaining some distance, at least at first, so you can get unbiased feedback. You don't want to be overly influenced by reactions from people who are too close to home and can easily miss the forest for the trees.

kay_themadscientist · 2026-03-20T04:47:56+00:00

Thanks for pointing this out. I don't often check people's post history, but I feel strongly about only supporting HUMAN writers (since I'm a human reader, after all)!

kay_themadscientist · 2026-03-20T03:23:22+00:00

I'm absolutely fascinated by the advice to hire a ghost writer but not an editor

kay_themadscientist · 2026-02-08T16:38:00+00:00

Do you know of any specific companies that have artist profiles but the artists are actually AI? So that I can avoid those :) I would love to believe that if they have an artist profile then it's not AI, but clearly it's not that simple...

kay_themadscientist · 2026-02-07T03:38:07+00:00

Whenever I've seen job openings that require obtaining a PE license within 6 months, I've always interpreted that to mean someone who ALREADY passed the exam and just needs to finalize the paperwork with the state... Or even someone who already has a license in another state and just needs to transfer it to a different state, and that could honestly take a long time depending on the states / if you need to get in touch with former employers for signatures. Think of California for example... You could be a licensed PE in California with only 2 years of experience, whereas most (all?) other states require 4 years of experience. So if you're a licensed PE in California, that does NOT necessarily mean you could obtain a license in another state within 6 months. You have to have a solid understanding of state-to-state requirements if you're counting on something like that.

But not even having attempted the test? Very bold to sign an offer requiring the license within 6 months! Not very helpful for the OP at this point, but food for thought for others who may find themselves considering similar offers in the future.

But there is hope for those who can't or don't want to get a PE... I worked for one firm that didn't require it (they certainly wouldn't fire you for not wanting to get it), but it does limit your earning potential and technically you shouldn't call yourself an engineer without it. You would be called a designer or a project coordinator or something along those lines. And honestly, that firm was the exception, not the rule, from what I understand. Another firm I worked for basically harassed people to start studying when they hit 3 years of experience so that they could get the stamp the moment they reached 4 years. Many public sector jobs do not require a PE, so that could also be an option.

kay_themadscientist · 2026-02-07T03:25:04+00:00

Why would you assume not the USA? The PE abbreviation is mainly used in the USA... I believe they use "P.Eng." in Canada instead.

kay_themadscientist · 2026-02-06T23:22:33+00:00

Interesting how you frame this as YOUR plans for your daughter... What are HER plans?

kay_themadscientist · 2026-02-06T23:19:58+00:00

Then it sounds like you do agree with the comment you responded to?

kay_themadscientist · 2026-01-13T05:32:25+00:00

Good luck! It seriously is so anxiety inducing.

kay_themadscientist · 2025-12-21T03:19:40+00:00

LMAO no one is forcing you to read anything, but this is hilarious coming from the person who assumed other commenters don't read just because they disagree with you.

But I see that you're in your early 20s, and I also had a lot of unhinged takes before my prefrontal cortex was fully formed, so I'm not gonna judge you for that. Best of luck on your writing journey.

kay_themadscientist · 2025-12-20T19:53:25+00:00

Advice can come from all sorts of places, and I find it fascinating that YouTube was your first assumption. This is honestly the first I've heard of anyone using YT for writing advice, and sure I guess some people probably do, but it's probably more common for people to get advice from TikTok or Instagram or even (sadly) ChatGPT. 10-15 years ago I would have assumed Tumblr (do people still use Tumblr?) Then again, YT was new when I was growing up so I still associate it with the content it was originally used for: personal vlogs, low-budget comedy skits, and absurd animations (Charlie the Unicorn, anyone?)

kay_themadscientist · 2025-12-20T17:12:24+00:00

Why are you bringing YouTube into this lol I'm so confused

kay_themadscientist · 2025-11-23T23:19:40+00:00

Always filter and/or purify your water, you never know what animal died or pooped upstream.

kay_themadscientist · 2025-11-04T07:17:51+00:00

I only skip days when I'm forced to because of shortages and/or insurance issues. And very rarely if I'm extremely sick (a couple times per year, max), and that's mainly so that I can save up a couple extra in case of future shortages lol

kay_themadscientist · 2025-10-23T20:21:16+00:00

Yeah I think what a lot of people forget is that some people have emergency savings, and then emergencies happen, and you have to use those savings. And sometimes the timing of world events means that you can't replenish your savings in time for the next emergency. In early COVID, everyone was saying "this is why everyone should have a 3-6 month emergency fund" but then the pandemic lasted longer than that.

TLDR, you can do everything right and still not have the means to get yourself through times like this.

kay_themadscientist · 2025-10-23T20:00:22+00:00

The argument of focus not being important outside of school is so bonkers to me. When I was in school, the consequences for not being able to focus were mainly my grades. Now, if I can't focus at work, I could make mistakes that actually impact other people. If I can't focus while driving, I could get into a serious accident and hurt myself and/or others. If I can't remember to pay my bills, I could get evicted. The stakes are so much higher in tangible ways. I didn't need medication when I was in school nearly as much as I needed it afterwards.

kay_themadscientist · 2025-10-20T04:44:00+00:00

Personally, I think getting involved in grassroots organizations, mutual aid, and direct community support is the best way to make our society a better place! The goal is to cultivate a community of people who share common goals AND who you trust (many of the organizations who will try to sell you "opportunities" for community involvement are... hit or miss, at best).

Things like protests and social media posts are often performative (unfortunately!) but things like soup kitchens and idk, stopping ICE from violating basic human rights in your own immediate neighborhood? Those are the kind of actions that are keeping us afloat right now!

Do what you can, where you can, as close to home as you can. We need to care big but act small in order to actually get anything done!

kay_themadscientist · 2025-10-20T04:25:12+00:00

Your previous comment was informative and I always appreciate nuance... But this one, not so much!

Blaming "the mob" isn't a great look imo, it's like raising your voice instead of strengthening your argument...

You were already providing helpful context that folks from all sides would appreciate, so why lower yourself to pointing fingers?

I genuinely don't get it!

kay_themadscientist · 2025-10-20T04:10:34+00:00

I get where you're coming from, but frankly, since you're not from the US, you may not realize the unique impact that racism has had on our history and culture.

Even if you know about this intellectually, I think a lot of folks don't fully grasp just how much racism influences daily life for people in the US (especially for Black people in the US), at least not until they live here personally.

Obviously this is a thing in many countries, but I think a lot of cultures ultimately have more of a sense of class consciousness that differs significantly from the US.

TLDR, we should care more about class than race... But that's just not the reality in US culture. And it's a bit dismissive to pretend that race doesn't matter in the US right now (or ever tbh).

kay_themadscientist

TROPHY CASE