New Blogs
The Dragon Boy blog, Dragon Boy Official Tumblr, can be found here.
The Sense of Something blog, Sense of Something Official Tumblr, can be found here.
Super creative titles, I know.
I also made Discord servers for the two, but I haven't sent out any invites yet because I'm still getting used to Discord. That and I felt weird enough making official Tumblr blogs for stories that aren't even close to being finished yet.
So, if you have a Tumblr, and are curious to know what's going on in between updates (but more importantly, if you like either of these stories) feel free to follow, I would appreciate it! I will also try my best to keep updated with art and general status updates, because we all know that's one of my weak points.
Quotev, Broken Phone, New Icon
Really, where I'm the most active is my Quotev. Note me if you want to add me there. I'm also on Wattpad but I'm only there for like 2 minutes. I only really wanted another platform where I could post my stories. But I feel like I'm on Quotev mostly because my newest work has gotten a lot of praise that's gone straight to my head. My newest project is Dragon Boy, a fantasy story (of course) about a boy whose home economics project ends up taking him far away to a magical land where he and his classmates must learn to overcome their limits and live up to the expectations that come when one has a Familiar. So far it has been read by 163 people, which is a big ego-booster for me. Unfortunately this means I've been neglecting Sense of Something, or SIBFR as its nickname is. Recently though I broke my writer's block for it and have been fleshing out Chapter 20. I also went through and re-read a lot of it to determine that so far about 13 days have passed in the story. It took me 3 years to write 20 chapters and 13 days. What cheers me up about that is how it took Tolkien 12 years to write Lord of the Rings. So yeah it's okay if it takes you a long time to write. What's a bit ironic about my situation is how I have spent all this time on SoS and it's not as popular as Dragon Boy, which I've so far spent about two months on, I think. Either way I want to finish SoS first since it's taken over my life. Both stories have, in fact. Send help.
My cellphone is broken. I don't use it to access the internet and everyone who texts me knows I live in a house with a landline so it's no big loss. Save for one person who can't take a hint that you call my house because I don't like wasting minutes I could use to, say, call 911 or my parents if I have to. I mean I've lived in a house with the same phone number much longer than I've had a cellphone so I don't get what's so hard to understand, like really. And if someone else answers is it really so hard to say, "Is _ there?" and if that person isn't there is it really so hard to be like, "Okay, have _ call me back later!" Whatever that person ruined my life so I don't talk to them. But yeah my cellphone is broken. I can send texts, but no one gets them; it still takes away minutes. I can't receive texts or phone calls. I might be able to call 911, since TracFone allegedly allows you to get in contact with emergency services as long as you have a signal and the battery is charged, but I don't know for sure and I don't want to find out. This doesn't affect me other than it's just inconvenient. I just felt like complaining about it.
And I changed my icon yet again. Unlike the past two, which were meant to look like me, this one is an illustration of Kyle from Dragon Boy. I like the way it turned out so I'm using it.
Help Me Draw in 100 Styles!
Of course, there are a few requirements I take into consideration before settling on a style:
1) The style must be distinct.
If it wasn't for this, my list would probably be mostly composed of anime. However, to my untrained eye, a lot of anime looks the same. *puts on one of those police dog training outfits so I have some defense the otaku community* As a result, I want to look for more distinct styles. Of course, I will work with different anime or manga as long as its style is distinct. What do I mean by that? When I say a style must be distinct, I want it to pop out; I want to be able to look at no more than three screenshots, preferably of background characters, and be able to say, "Oh yeah, I know what show this is from." I specify background characters because main characters are easy to identify regardless of how generic the style is, and the shows I've selected - such as Bob's Burgers and Adventure Time - have styles where you can look at the background characters and know what show it's from.
2) If it is a certain artist's style, I need to know their work.
This one is just so I know what to look for when searching for reference images. So, if an artist has a unique style, you are more than welcome to suggest the artist themselves, as long as you say one or two things they've done. For example, you could suggest, "Butch Hartman, creator of Fairly Odd Parents and Danny Phantom." You can also suggest a company like Ghibli or Disney, but again, assume I live under a rock and give me points of reference.
3) There must be adult human characters.
Like 2, this is just to make things easier on me. The character I'm drawing is an adult, so I need adult characters to reference. The character is a vampire, so I could draw him as a bat, however I'd prefer to keep it humanoid. If the show protagonists aren't human, but have a humanoid shape, it counts as 'human', so don't sit there and be all like, "*adjusts glasses you may or may not have* actually in that cartoon the characters aren't humans they're aliens who look like humans so like n00b get it right next time". I'm gonna be kinda loose on this. If the style is unique enough though, maybe I'll draw him as a fishy denizen of Bikini Bottom. Maybe.
4) The show/comic/etc. must be known enough for me to find good reference images...
...but not so popular that when I look up said reference images I only find fanart. A Wikia page with screenshots is helpful, but all Wiki sites make this thing run so incredibly slow. I would prefer to be able to go on Google images and see actual screenshots from the show, or at the very least concept art so I get a better feel for the style. Fanart is great, but I prefer to use actual material to ensure I'm close to matching the style.
5) I would prefer to work in a style I like.
I am biased and prefer to work in styles I personally find visually appealing. I will not do a Problem Solverz style, and I'm not a huge fan of Seth Macfarlane's style so I would rather not draw in it. If I end up getting 99 styles and no one can think of anything other than his style I will make an exception, of course.
6) 3D animation and video games are fine as long as the other requirements are met.
Speaks for itself. But I don't have any tools to make 3D drawings so expect a 2D drawing that may resemble concept art.
So do you know any shows, comics, etc. that have really distinct styles? Please comment below!
Someone is trying to get me fired over $1.25
He said that was expensive, and that he thought it would be more like $5.
He asked about a menu item, the signature meatballs in marinara sauce, and asked if he could substitute for sausage.
I said he could, and that it was a menu item.
He asked how many sausages.
I said two.
He said he would get that, and his brother would pick it up.
The thing is, it used to be $5, but four months ago we upped the price on a few items to help make ends meet, because we are struggling for 9 out of the 12 months of the year. That particular menu item is now $6.25.
So his brother picks it up a short time later, and then maybe 10 minutes after that he calls again absolutely livid that I charged so much. I had explained to his brother that some items underwent a price increase, and I was sorry for any inconvenience. But nope, big bro was going to get to the bottom of this!
So for two minutes the guy berates me and says I'm just an awful person for overcharging them when I said it would be $5.
Go back and reread my points.
At any point did I mention saying, "Yes, sir, that will be $5!" No. This guy was just so pissed about pocket change that he thought it would be okay to shove words in my mouth. Should I have told him that it was actually $6.25? Probably. But you know what? He said "I thought that would be about $5" regarding the Bolognese sauce, not regarding the sausage. Makes for a compelling argument! "Well I thought..." Well I thought you would at least go online for a menu to make sure the price was within your range before ordering! And God, Allah, Yahweh, Zeus, Thor, the Great Wiccan Goddess, the damn Flying Spaghetti Monster if so necessary strike me dead right now if I did in fact tell this man that meal would be $5.
After tax the meal was $6.69. Had he ordered four months ago, it would have been $5.35. That makes the difference $1.34 at the end of the day but come on! Is someone's job really worth what is probably in between your sofa cushions right now? But I mean whatever, had I charged him the $5.35 he'd still be angry that I put tax on that! I'm sorry, sir, we are required by law to put tax on our items. That's just the way the cookie crumbles.
So this two minute conversation boils down to a few key points:
- "You said it would be $5!" But I didn't, he said he thought it would be $5
- "I ordered this because of the ridiculous price you gave me!" Sir I told you I didn't know, so I gave you a ballpark
- "What's your name? I'm going to go to the manager and tell him about you!"
- "I'm going back and speaking to the manager and getting a full refund!" You got the product you asked for at the price listed on our official menu on our official website and Facebook page.
- "This is no way to treat a customer!" This is no way to treat a human being.
The entire conversation I was apologizing for the misunderstanding, being respectful, explaining the situation, and even ended with "have a nice night". Every time the phone rang after that, I was expecting it to be him adding in, "AND ONE MORE THING!", or, if I was lucky, him realizing how petty he was being and saying, "Geeze I'm sorry I've had a rough day and potentially getting a stranger's life ruined by getting them fired isn't worth $1.25." But nope! What's worse is I have work again tomorrow so there is a potential I will have to deal with this guy again.
And you wanna know the worst part?
How upset this is making me.
I tend to overreact. I get upset over little things. I'm sensitive. I hate admitting it, but it's true. And you know what? This really upset me. My country's law may see me as an adult, but you're not fully cooked until you're 25. Small things upset me, things that seem trivial to someone who's fully developed. Thing is, what upsets me most is his total lack of empathy or understanding. This guy is a full-grown adult who should be able to far better differentiate serious problems from petty matters. This bastard has no idea who I am, or what I'm going through. He doesn't know that I'm 18, that I'm a freshman in college, that I'm living with my parents still. Maybe he thinks I'm some bum in my late 20s early 30s, still living with mommy and daddy because they've pampered me all my life and I'm just a princess who needs to be taken care of and can't be expected to go out on her own. For all he knows, I could have been early 20s, trying to work a menial job to earn enough money to pay for rent like the rest of the people I work with. In his mind though, I'm probably just another thoughtless, emotionless NPC in his game of life, and I just have a glitch in me and so I must be punished. That's what bothers me so much. This man is just so thoughtless and cruel that he is willing to potentially ruin a stranger's life over pocket change, what you could scrounge up on an afternoon in the park with a metal detector. My dad says he'll deal with this, and that he wouldn't fire anyone over such a petty matter. However, some employers would. Some employers would fire their employees because they see those beneath them as disposable, and the customer says this is what happened, so that's all there is to it! Is this man's life just so peaches and cream that $1.25 is such a big deal? Does he really not have any more important matters to worry about? Is he going to go on Yelp and write a review about how we grossly overcharged him, and everyone's going to swallow it and not stop to question why the end difference could be earned back working less than an hour at almost any job?
Would I be upset if I got overcharged? I might be a little annoyed. Would I make this big a deal? Unless it was $5+, probably not. For as much as I complain about being lucky to earn $5 in my tip jar in the wintertime, I know that a lot more goes into running a business than just buying the needed materials for a product and redistributing at a slightly higher price.
Something similar happened earlier this year. A woman, who claimed she was a loyal customer who was in all the time, wanted to order a small soup and small salad. However, she stumbled across an old menu online, from when we still served small soups and salads (now they're all one-size, the soups selling for $3.50 and the salad she wanted in particular selling for $7.95). I explained to her on the initial phone call that they were all one size, and that the menu she was looking at was outdated. Even so, she called back later saying that because of the confusion, she should get a price reduction. She said she had gotten out of the hospital, so I really wanted to, but an agreement between staff and I was unable to be met without consulting my dad, who wasn't there at the time. Had she clicked anywhere on the menu, it would have taken her to the updated one. Even so, she was getting increasingly difficult, and no matter what I said or did I could not pacify her. After Dad got there, she asked to speak to the manager. Where I work, you never, ever ask to speak to the manager (full disclosure: my dad gets very rude and it is bad for business so I try to resolve conflict whenever possible). This woman was trying to guilt us, and I still feel bad for not being able to help out to this day. She wasn't even asking for a refund, just a little bit of discount for her loyalty (though, if she was in as often, she probably would have known that we made this change 6 or so years ago) and sympathy. What makes this different is how abusive this man was, and how he wanted all $6 and 69 cents back.
His total lack of empathy and compassion is disgusting. I would forgive him if I found out he was indeed having a bad day. Is he struggling financially? If he was, he wouldn't be eating out, which is more expensive than making it yourself. For the confusion we will give him up to the $1.25 back, but not a full refund since, again, I never said it would be $5. The way he was getting it sounded like he was "sticking it to the man!" and would be willing to sue us over such a petty matter (wouldn't be surprised the way this state goes), but even if he did, good luck finding a lawyer who will take a case amounting to, at most, $1.35, and even better luck to being able to actually prove I said, without a shadow of a doubt, "Yes that will cost $5."
But I guess this comes with the territory. After all, as soon as you step behind that counter, you are less than a person, right? Not a doctor, not a lawyer, not someone who's got dreams and wants to change the world for the better. You're just some sub-human creation engineered to cater to your every whim without fault. That's just the way the cookie crumbles.
Sorry if I got upset. I would have gotten upset had it been anyone else, too. Just how cruel some people can be to others over tiny things such as this is so disgusting.
Casual Wedding
After the reception, people went and got changed into their bathing suits to use the pool. At some point my brothers had to use the bathroom so we got out of the pool and got on line, and then my aunt got on the microphone to make a speech about how she and her husband met. At the very end she said how their daughter was going to be a big sister come February, and everyone went wild. There was this one older woman, I don't know if she was a mother or aunt, but she started sobbing and asking everyone if she heard correctly. My sister started sobbing too, so she comforted the woman. Normally a bride's happiest day is that of her wedding, but that woman was probably even happier than the bride.
It was a fun time, and very exciting, especially for my sister who loves babies. When our aunt's first daughter was announced, around the month of the due date, my sister would call home every day to ask if the baby had arrived. Chances are we're going to have a repeat of that.
Also, have you ever tried to watch two kids who don't listen to you and swim at opposite ends of the pool, and they're both weak swimmers so you have to shadow them so you can grab them if they start to struggle so they don't drown? Because it's completely awful. At some point I managed to get them together and tell them to get out so I could check my phone for missed calls or texts from my coworkers (I get asked to cover shifts a lot), and as soon as I get back to our bags they're jumping in the pool again. Granted there were other people in the pool but they were relaxing or watching their own kids so needless to say I gave the two a good talking to after I got back.